Rising  Japan 

Is  She  a  Menace 
or 

A  Comrade  to  be  Welcomed  in  the 
Fraternity  of  Nations? 


By 
Jabez  T.  Sunderland,   M.A.,  D.D. 

Billings  Lecturer  (1913-14)   in  Japan,  China,  and  India 

With  a  Foreword  by 
Lindsay  Russell 

President  of  the  Japan  Society 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Cbe   imicfterbocfter   press 

1918 


Copyright,  1918 

by 

JABEZ  T.  SUNDERLAND 


XCbe  ftntcfeerbocfter  t>vcsst  "Hew  fljorfe 


Gbte 

BOOK   IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 
TO 

DR.   CLAY    MacCAULEY 

OF    TOKYO 

CLERGYMAN,    SCHOLAR,    AND   AUTHOR,   LOYAL   CITIZEN   OF   THE 

UNITED   STATES   AND    TRUE   FRIEND    OF   JAPAN 

AND   TO 

BARON    EI-ICHI   SHIBUSAWA 

OF    TOKYO 

FINANCIER,    EDUCATOR,    AND   PHILANTHROPIST,    LOYAL   CITIZEN 

OF   JAPAN   AND    TRUE   FRIEND    OF    AMERICA 


The  value  of  the  service  rendered  by  these  two  eminent  men  in  bringing 
the  two  great  neighbour  nations,  Japan  and  the  United  States,  into  better 
acquaintance  with  each  other,  and  therefore  into  more  permanently  friendly 
and  helpful  relations,  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 


FOREWORD 

This  thoughtful  and  interesting  book  by  Dr. 
Sunderland  will  serve  a  timely  purpose  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  Japan  and  in  the  refutation  of  the 
many  malicious  falsehoods  circulated  about  that 
country.  It  is  fortunate  that  this  publication 
follows  so  closely  the  startling  disclosures  of  our 
own  Department  of  State,  and  the  pointed  ob- 
servation of  Viscount  Ishii,  of  the  Special  Mission 
of  Japan  which  has  recently  visited  the  United 
States,  that:  "The  agent  of  Germany  in  this 
country  and  in  ours  has  had  as  his  one  purpose 
the  feeding  of  our  passions,  our  prejudices,  and  our 
distrust  on  a  specially  prepared  German  concoc- 
tion, until,  drugged  and  inflamed,  we  might  have 
taken  the  irrevocable  step  over  the  edge,  and  at 
his  leisure  the  vulture  might  have  fattened  upon 
our  remains.' ' 

As  a  group  of  anti- Japanese  writers  has  per- 
sistently attacked  Japan  and  will  probably  con- 
tinue to  do  so,  the  study  of  Japan's  civilization 


VI 


FOREWORD 


and  a  clear-sighted  analysis  of  the  policy  of  her 
rulers  and  the  motives  by  which  the  Japanese 
people  are  impelled,  are  peculiarly  valuable, 
particularly  from  so  authoritative  and  trustworthy 
a  student  as  Dr.  Sunderland.  Japanese  states- 
men and  leaders  in  thought  and  action  have 
pointed  out  with  full  frankness  that  nothing  could 
be  gained  by  Japan  in  planning  aggression  on  our 
Pacific  Coast,  and  I  personally  feel  that,  in  view  of 
experience  in  the  present  war,  no  sound  thinker 
could  believe  that  Japan  could  transport  the 
necessary  great  armies  with  munitions  and  sup- 
plies over  the  five  thousand  miles  of  ocean  and 
successfully  invade  and  hold  our  Western  shores. 
Viscount  Ishii's  recent  clear  enunciation  of  Japan's 
policy  toward  China  leaves  no  cross-currents  in  our 
relations  other  than  that  of  a  just  treatment  of 
the* sixty  thousand  Japanese  in  California  and  the 
slightly  larger  number  in  Honolulu  who  are  right- 
fully resident  there,  and  to  whom,  for  their  own 
protection,  and  also  for  the  advantage  of  the  United 
States,  should  be  accorded  citizenship.  Their  child- 
ren become  citizens  automatically,  and  a  similar 
privilege  to  the  parents  is  but  just  and  right. 

In  a  recent  speech  in  New  York,  Hon.  Elihu 
Root  said: 


FOREWORD  vii 

"I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  mis- 
representations and  the  attempts  to  create  bad 
feeling  between  the  United  States  and  Japan  have 
been  very  largely  the  result  of  a  fixed  and  settled 
purpose.  That  purpose  it  seems  to  me  formed  a 
part  of  the  policy  of  that  great  ruling  caste  of 
Germany  which  is  attempting  to  subjugate  the 
world  today. 

"For  many  years  I  was  very  familiar  with  our 
own  department  of  foreign  affairs,  and  for  some 
years  I  was  specially  concerned  in  its  operation. 
There  were  many  incidents  out  of  which  quarrels 
and  conflict  might  have  arisen,  and  I  hope  you  will 
remember  what  I  say:  I  say  that  during  all  that 
period  there  never  was  a  moment  when  the 
Government  of  Japan  was  not  frank,  sincere, 
friendly,  and  most  solicitous  not  to  enlarge  but  to 
minimize  and  do  away  with  all  causes  of  con- 
troversy. There  never  was  a  more  consistent 
and  noble  advocacy  of  peace,  of  international 
friendship,  and  of  real,  good  understanding  in  the 
diplomacy  of  this  world  than  was  exhibited  by  the 
representatives  of  Japan,  both  here  and  in  Japan, 
during  all  these  years  in  their  relations  to  the 
United  States.  I  wish  for  no  better,  no  more 
frank  and  friendly  intercourse  between  my  own 
and  other  countries  than  the  intercourse  by  which 
Japan  in  those  years  illustrated  the  best  qualities 
of  the  new  diplomacy  between  nations  as  distin- 
guished from  the  old  diplomacy  as  between  rulers. " 


viii  FOREWORD 

I  feel  that  Dr.  Sunderland,  who  for  years  has 
been  a  most  painstaking  student  of  the  Far  East, 
has  rendered  a  great  service  in  exposing  the  fictions 
and  fabrications  of  writers,  enemies  of  both  Japan 
and  the  United  States,  who  have  been  doing  all 
in  their  power  to  sow  seeds  of  dissension.  Japan 
has  been,  perhaps,  the  most  reluctant  of  all  na- 
tions to  come  to  her  own  defence  when  she  has 
been  slandered  and  maligned,  a  reluctance  due  in 
part,  no  doubt,  to  the  barrier  of  language,  but 
largely  to  the  instinctive  reserve  of  the  Japanese 
and  to  their  time-honored  Bushido,  the  spirit  of 
silence  under  attack.  Moreover,  in  the  entire 
United  States  there  are  but  a  few  Japanese  who 
can  or  will  write  effectively  in  defence  of  their 
country.  There  are  few  Americans  who  have  the 
knowledge  and  inclination  so  to  do. 

Dr.  Sunderland's  monograph  deserves  the  re- 
spectful attention  of  broad  and  intelligent  read- 
ers both  in  our  country  and  abroad. 

Lindsay  Russell, 

President,  Japan  Society. 

New  York, 
Nov.  20,  19 1 7. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

The  Civilization  of  Asia  i 

Who  and  What  Are  the  Japanese? 

CHAPTER  II  - 
The  Civilization  of  Japan  ....        5 

Japanese  Civilization  Compared  with  that  of  Europe 
and  America. 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Civilization  of  Japan  (Continued)  .       17 

Japanese  Civilization  Compared  with  that  of  Europe 
and  America. 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Civilization  of  Japan  (Concluded)  .      2>$J 

Japanese  Civilization  Compared  with  that  of  Europe 
and  America. 

CHAPTER  V, 

The   Menace  of  a  Japanese  Invasion  of      / 

America .y  5° 

How  the  Idea  Arose 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VI 

PAGE 

The   Menace  of  a  Japanese   Invasion  of 
America  (Continued)  ....       58 

How  the  Idea  Arose. 

CHAPTER  VII 

The   Menace  of  a   Japanese   Invasion  of 
America  (Continued) .....       80 
Is  Such  an  Invasion  Probable?     Is  it  Possible? 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The   Menace  of  a   Japanese   Invasion  of 
America  (Concluded) .         .         .         .         .105 
Is  Such  an  Invasion  Probable?     Is  it  Possible? 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Menace  of  Japan  in  China    .         .         .128 

Is  Japan's  Attitude  Toward  China  Likely  to  Give 
Trouble  to  the  United  States? 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Menace  of  Japan  in  California    .         .142 

Are  the  Japanese  in  California  a  Local  Danger?     Are 
They  a  National  Danger? 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  Menace  of  Japan  in  California  (Con- 
tinued)     .......     149 

Are  the  Japanese  in  California  a  Local  Danger?    Are 
They  a  National  Danger? 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  XII 

PAGE 

The  Menace  of  Japan  in  California  (Con- 
cluded)     .......     160 

Are  the  Japanese  in  California  a  Local  Danger?    Are 
They  a  National  Danger? 

chapter  xiii 

The  Solution  of  the  Japanese  Question 
in  California 172 

I.     National  Control  of  Immigration 
II.    A  New  and  Better  Immigration  Law. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

The  Menace  of  Japan  in  the  Philippines     .     197 

Is  There  Danger  of  Japan  Attempting  to  Seize  the 
Philippine  Islands? 


Cc 


CHAPTER  XV 


Conclusion  of  the  Whole  Matter       .         .210 
Index 215 


Rising  Japan 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  ASIA 

Who  and  What  are  the  Japanese  ? 

Many  persons  in  Europe  and  America  find  it 
hard  to  believe  that  Japan  is  a  civilized  land,  at 
least  in  any  such  sense  as  applies  to  England  or 
France  or  Germany  or  the  United  States.  Why 
is  this  so?  Is  it  not  because  Japan  is  located  in 
Asia? 

Europeans  have  long  looked  down  upon  Asia 
with  a  strange  arrogance  and  semi-contempt,  as 
if  her  peoples  were  inferior,  as  if  her  place  in  the 
world's  civilization  and  the  world's  achievement 
were  insignificant.     But  what  are  the  facts? 

Asia  is  the  mother-continent  of  the  world.  She 
is  the  mother  of  the  world's  most  important  races, 


i  ,:  RISINQ  JAPAN 

including  the  races  of  Europe;  she  is  the  greatest 
mother  of  nations;  she  is  the  most  important 
mother  of  languages;  she  is  the  mother  of  the 
alphabet  and  of  letters;  she  is  the  mother  of 
astronomy  and  navigation  and  mathematics  and 
most  of  the  arts  and  industries  of  the  world;  she 
is  the  mother  of  civilization,  giving  to  the  world 
its  first  great  centres  of  enlightenment,  many 
centuries  before  any  part  of  Europe  had  emerged 
from  barbarism;  and  when  civilization  began  to 
penetrate  Europe  it  was  from  Asia  that  it  came. 
What  is  important,  also,  Asia  is  the  mother  of 
religions.  All  the  world's  great  historic  religious 
faiths  are  of  Asiatic  origin,  not  one  arose  on  any 
other  continent.  Europe  herself  received  both 
her  Christianity  and  her  Bible  from  Asia.  Moses, 
David,  Solomon,  Isaiah,  Paul,  and  Jesus  were  all 
Asiatics.  Where  then  is  there  any  ground  for 
Europe's  pride  and  arrogance  when  comparing 
herself  with  Asia? 

If  Japan  were  in  Europe,  and  if  we  were  ac- 
customed to  think  of  her  people  as  belonging  to 
our  own  so-called  "white"  race,  we  should  not 
hesitate  a  moment  to  assign  her  a  high  place 
among  civilized  nations. 

As  a  fact,  she  probably  is  related  to  our  own 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  ASIA  3 

white  Aryan  race  as  distinctly  as  to  any  of  the 
races  that  we  call  brown  or  yellow;  for  the  best 
scientific  authorities  are  now  telling  us  that  an 
important  part  of  her  blood  is  unquestionably 
Aryan.  Still  she  has  also  Mongolian  blood, 
and  so  our  prejudice  continues.  Will  our  preju- 
dice still  continue  when  we  learn,  as  our  scientific 
investigators  tell  us  we  are  likely  soon  to  learn, 
that  probably  all  of  us,  and  all  other  Europeans, 
have  Mongolian  blood  in  our  veins? 

Some  of  us  think  of  Japan  as  being  very  young, 
and  of  such  civilization  as  she  possesses  as  being 
very  new,  because  we  have  been  acquainted  with 
her  so  short  a  time.  But  the  truth  is  she  is  older 
than  any  present-day  nation  of  Europe,  and  her 
civilization  goes  far  back. 

She  seems  young  to  us  because  throughout 
most  of  her  history  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  our  Commodore  Perry 
compelled  her  to  open  her  ports  to  the  trade  of  the 
western  world,  she  had  gone  her  own  way,  lived 
her  own  life,  developed  her  own  civilization  ac- 
cording to  her  own  ideals  and  her  own  genius, 
and  maintained  little  intercourse  with  any  coun- 
tries except  her  neighbours,  China  and  Korea. 

Within  the  past  sixty  years,  indeed,  mainly 


4  RISING  JAPAN 

within  the  past  fifty  years,  she  has  passed  through 
a  revolution  which  I  think  may  justly  be  declared 
as  remarkable  as  anything  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  She  has  not  become  civilized;  she  was  civil- 
ized before.  What  has  happened  is,  she  has  opened 
all  her  doors  to  a  new  form  of  civilization — the 
civilization  of  Europe  and  America — not  to  sup- 
plant her  own,  but  to  supplement  it,  to  take  from 
the  new  what  seemed  to  her  of  most  value,  and 
with  that  enlarge,  carry  forward,  and  enrich  her 
own.  It  required  a  strong  and  a  great  people  to 
plan  such  an  advance,  such  a  transition,  such  a 
revolution,  and  carry  it  out,  holding  themselves 
steady,  meanwhile,  never  being  submerged,  never 
being  carried  off  their  feet,  never  proving  false  to 
their  own  civilization  or  their  own  historic  genius, 
and  never  losing  or  laying  aside  their  own  ideals, 
throughout  all  the  long  and  trying  transition 
period.     That  is  what  Japan  has  done. 


CHAPTER  II 

JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION 

The  Civilization  of  Japan  Compared  with  that  of 
Europe  and  America 

Let  us  inquire  with  some  care  how  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Japan  compares  with  our  own. 

What  are  the  marks  of  civilization?    % 

The  question  is  not  easy  to  answer.  Undoabt- 
edly  the  marks  of  civilization  are  many.  Com- 
petent persons  attempting  to  give  them  would 
not  name  just  the  same.  And  yet  there  are  cer- 
tain marks,  or  tests,  upon  which  almost  all  intel- 
ligent judges  would  agree. 

Probably  one  of  these,  and  standing  nearly  or 
quite  first  in  the  list,  would  be  public  order,  general 
obedience  to  law  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

What  is  to  be  said  of  Japan  in  this  regard? 
There  is  only  one  possible  answer.  Obedience  to 
law  is  more  general  and  more  perfect  in  Japan  than 
in   the   United   States.     There  is  no  nation   in 

5 


6  RISING  JAPAN 

Europe  where  public  order  is  better  maintained. 
All  travellers  notice  this.  All  authorities  agree 
upon  it. 

One  of  the  tests  of  civilization,  unquestionably, 
is  intelligence — the  general  intelligence  and  edu- 
cation of  the  people.  How  does  Japan  stand  this 
test?  The  answer  is  clear.  For  many  years  she 
has  maintained  a  system  of  universal  compulsory 
education.  All  her  children  from  six  to  fourteen 
years  of  age  are  in  school.  For  advanced  educa- 
tion she  has  high  schools,  colleges,  technical  schools, 
and  universities  in  large  numbers.  They  told 
me  in  Tokyo  that  that  city  alone  has  sixty 
thousand  students  in  its  higher  institutions  of 
learning. 

Four  years  ago,  when  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
President  emeritus  of  Harvard  University,  re- 
turned home  from  the  Orient  after  studying  the 
educational  systems  there,  he  told  us  that  Japan 
not  only  spends  a  larger  proportion  of  her  public 
money  for  education  than  we  do,  but  has  attained 
a  higher  standard  of  education  than  ours. 

As  to  newspapers  and  periodicals,  Japan  is  full 
of  these.  The  traveller  sees  them  everywhere. 
Tokyo,  with  a  population  of  two  million,  has  761 
newspapers  and  magazines,   besides  thirty-eight 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  7 

news  agencies.  There  are  newspapers  which 
have  a  daily  circulation  of  a  quarter  of  a  million 
copies.  A  Methodist  missionary,  a  doctor  of 
divinity,  the  presiding  elder  of  his  district,  said 
to  me,  "All  my  people,  even  the  poorest  and 
humblest,  read  the  papers.  My  servants  know 
more  about  what  is  going  on  in  the  world  than 
I  do." 

Nor  do  the  people  confine  their  reading  to  news- 
papers and  periodicals;  they  are  great  readers  of 
books,  and  solid  books,  books  of  value,  not  merely 
ephemeral  novels.  It  is  amazing  what  numbers 
of  the  best  books  of  Germany,  France,  Russia, 
Italy,  England,  and  America  one  finds  translated 
into  Japanese.  Every  public  library  and  every 
book  store  is  rich  in  them.  Equally  surprising 
is  the  number  of  new  books  by  Japanese  authors, 
in  every  department  of  thought  and  knowledge, 
that  one  finds  issuing  from  the  press  of  Japan. 

Do  these  facts  throw  no  light  upon  the  question 
of  whether  or  not  Japanese  civilization  is  worthy 
to  be  compared  with  that  of  the  West? 

In  free  countries  like  our  own,  political  freedom 
is  regarded  as  a  mark  of  high  civilization. 

Japan  has  political  freedom  and  a  constitutional 
and    representative    government.      Freedom    of 


8  RISING  JAPAN 

speech  and  of  the  press  is  essentially  as  perfect 
there  as  here,  or  as  it  has  ever  been  in  England. 

Probably  all  of  us  would  agree  that  the  progress 
of  science  is  one  of  the  tests  of  civilization  in  our 
modern  world.  Of  course  Japan  has  done  nothing 
like  so  much  as  a  number  of  the  countries  of  the 
West  in  original  scientific  research.  This  is  be- 
cause she  has  been  so  short  a  time  in  the  field. 
But  her  interest  in  science  is  as  keen  as  our  own, 
and  she  is  giving  as  much  attention  to  it  in  her 
high  schools,  colleges,  and  universities  as  we  are. 
Her  students  who  have  come  for  study  to  this 
country,  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Germany, 
have  taken  up  with  enthusiasm  every  branch  of 
science,  and  carried  back  their  knowledge  to 
Japan,  to  make  use  of  it  everywhere  as  teachers 
in  institutions  of  learning  and  in  all  kinds  of 
practical  ways.  And,  brief  as  has  been  the  period 
of  Japan's  scientific  training,  she  already  possesses 
many  investigators  who  are  making  valuable 
original  researches  in  numerous  important  scientific 
fields. 

We  may  well  think  of  art  as  a  mark  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

Japan  is  pre-eminently  a  land  of  art.    Art  and 
beauty  are  a  part  of  the  very  life  of  the  Japanese 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  9 

people,  all  the  people,  even  the  poorest  and  hum- 
blest, to  an  extent  that  we  of  the  West  can  only 
imperfectly  understand. 

It  seems  to  be  a  common  impression  in  this 
country  that  the  Japanese  are  a  nation  of  material- 
ists. It  would  probably  be  much  nearer  the 
truth  to  call  them  a  nation  of  idealists.  This 
characteristic  of  their  nature  comes  out  in  many 
ways.  It  appears  in  the  universal  fondness  for 
poetry,  and  in  the  fact  that  nearly  everyone 
writes  poetry,  from  the  Emperor  and  Empress 
down  to  the  humblest  day  labourer.  But  perhaps 
the  clearest  indication  is  seen  in  art.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  among  any  other  people  in  the  world 
the  art  instinct,  the  art  feeling,  love  for  beauty  and 
the  constant  enjoyment  of  beauty,  is  so  universal 
as  among  the  people  of  Japan. 

Japanese  drawing  and  painting  are  conspicu- 
ously idealistic,  not  realistic.  No  one  can  under- 
stand these  two  arts  as  developed  in  Japan  unless 
he  constantly  bears  this  in  mind.  The  painter 
does  not  seek  to  copy  nature  but  to  express  the 
spirit  of  nature.  Great  numbers  of  Japanese 
paintings,  even  those  of  the  best  artists,  fail  from 
a  scientific  point  of  view,  being  inexact  in  size 
and  perspective.     The  painter  has  not  aimed  at 


io  RISING  JAPAN 

exactness;  to  do  that  would  be  merely  mechani- 
cal; he  has  aimed  at  something  higher,  subtler, 
deeper,  namely,  to  express  the  spirit  or  spiritual 
significance  of  the  scene  or  object  represented. 
Japanese  pictures  are  impressions;  they  lead  the 
mind  to  inner  meanings.  An  artist  who  draws 
a  horse  or  a  bird  with  a  few  flourishes  of  his  brush 
(as  the  great  artists  of  Japan  do)  cannot  be  a  real- 
ist. His  thought  is  of  mystical  significances, 
symbolic  suggestions;  these  he  wishes  to  flash 
on  the  imagination.  Thus  Japanese  art  can  be 
truly  appreciated  by  none  but  idealists.  As 
soon  as  we  understand  this  we  are  able  to  see  that 
in  drawing,  but  especially  in  painting,  Japan  has 
made  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  world's  art 
wealth.  Her  painting  is  very  different  from  that 
of  Europe,  but  it  is  worthy  to  stand  beside  it. 

In  sculpture  Japan  has  achieved  little,  as  com- 
pared with  ancient  Greece  or  modern  Italy.  And 
yet  she  has  some  examples  which  as  works  of 
art  are  nearly  or  quite  of  the  first  rank,  as,  for 
instance,  her  colossal  Kamakura  Daibutsu,  or 
Image  of  Buddha  in  bronze;  the  great  Daibutsu 
in  the  Todai-ji  temple  in  Nara,  which  dates  from 
the  eighth  century,  and  her  famous  statue  of 
Buddha    in    Michinaga's    temple    of     Hasho-ji, 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  n 

carved  in  wood  by  the  artist  Jocho  in  the  eleventh 
century. 

Japanese  artists  excel  in  fine  carving,  both  in 
wood  and  in  other  materials.  In  the  temples  are 
to  be  found  some  of  the  most  elaborate  and  exqui- 
site wood  carving  of  the  world.  Japanese  coral 
carving  also  is  attracting  attention,  on  account 
of  its  great  delicacy  and  excellence.  It  is  believed 
that  in  a  few  years  the  industry  of  carving  coral, 
which  in  the  past  has  been  almost  wholly  confined 
to  Italy,  will  pass  to  Japan,  and  that  in  the  future 
the  world  will  look  chiefly  to  the  skilled  workmen 
of  the  Empire  of  the  Rising  Sun  for  its  supply  of 
this  delicate  art  work. 

From  very  early  times  Japanese  artists  have 
excelled  in  decoration  work  in  the  form  of  inlay- 
ing with  gold  and  silver.  Nor  has  this  ancient 
skill  disappeared  in  modern  times.  The  inlaid 
work  produced  in  Japan  today  is  of  the  very 
highest  order. 

In  fine  pottery,  and  all  forms  of  ceramics,  in 
lacquer  work,  and  in  the  textile  arts,  Japan  ranks 
high. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  nation  surpasses  Japan  in 
the  art  of  landscape  gardening. 

In   architecture  Japan  ranks   distinctly  below 


12  RISING  JAPAN 

Europe.  It  is  true  that  she  possesses  many  build- 
ings that  are  very  beautiful  as  well  as  wholly 
unique,  particularly  her  temples.  And  yet  she 
has  nothing  that  we  can  justly  class  with  the 
temples  of  ancient  Greece,  or  with  the  medieval 
and  modern  Gothic  architecture,  particularly  the 
cathedrals  of  France  and  England. 

In  Japan,  to  an  extent  found  almost  nowhere 
else  in  the  world,  art  is  an  intimate  and  private 
rather  than  a  distant  and  public  matter.  Perhaps 
among  no  other  people  does  it  do  so  much  for  the 
home,  or  for  the  inspiration  of  daily  life.  Writes 
Mr.  G.  Lowes  Dickinson,  in  describing  his  observa- 
tions and  experiences  in  the  Orient : 

There  is  nothing  in  the  West  to  compare  with  the 
homes,  the  living-rooms  of  Japan.  Until  I  saw  them 
I  had  no  idea  how  exquisite  human  life  could  be  made. 
The  Japanese,  as  is  well  known,  have  discovered  the 
secret  of  simplicity.  Their  rooms  consist  of  a  floor 
of  spotless  matting,  paper  walls,  and  a  wooden  roof. 
But  the  pictures  on  the  paper  walls,  in  these  old 
palatial  rooms,  are  masterpieces  of  great  artists. 
From  a  background  of  gold  leaf  emerge  and  fade 
away  suggestions  of  river  and  coast  and  hill,  of 
peonies,  chrysanthemums,  lotuses,  of  wild  geese  and 
swans,  of  reeds  and  pools,  of  all  that  is  elusive 
and  choice  in  nature;  decorations  that  are  also  lyric 
poems,  hints  of  landscape  that  yet  never  pretend  to 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  13 

be  a  substitute  for  the  real  thing.  The  real  thing 
is  outside,  and  perhaps  it  will  not  intrude ;  for  where 
we  should  have  glass  windows  the  Japanese  have 
white  paper  screens.  But  draw  back,  if  you  choose, 
one  of  these  screens,  and  you  will  see  a  little  land- 
scape garden,  a  little  lake,  a  little  bridge,  a  tiny 
rockery,  a  few  gold-fish,  a  cluster  of  irises,  a  bed  of 
lotus,  and,  above  and  beyond,  the  great  woods.  In 
apartments,  all  the  cost,  it  will  be  seen,  is  lavished  on 
the  works  of  art.  The  principle  is  the  same  in  the 
royal  palace  and  in  the  humblest  home.  People 
who  could  so  devise  life,  we  may  be  sure,  are  people 
with  a  fineness  of  perception  unknown  to  the  West, 
unless  it  were  once  in  ancient  Greece.  The  Japanese, 
indeed,  I  suspect,  are  the  Greeks  of  the  East. 

The  same  thought  was  curiously  borne  in  upon  me 
in  the  theatre  at  Kyoto.  I  have  never  seen  anything 
so  like  what  a  Greek  play  may  have  been  as  I  found 
here.  I  have  never  seen  an  art  of  such  reserve  and 
distinction.  These  actors,  I  felt,  were  the  only  ones 
that  could  act  Greek  drama. 


Such  is  the  judgment  of  a  distinguished  and 
eminently  fair-minded  Englishman  regarding  the 
art  instincts  and  achievements  of  the  Japanese. 

Turning  to  the  practical  arts  and  industries, 
what  do  we  find? 

In  navigation  Japan  ranks  well  with  Great 
Britain,  Germany,  Norway,  and  the  United  States. 
In  her  shipyards  she  is  building  ships,  both  battle- 


14  RISING  JAPAN 

ships  and  ocean  liners,  about  equal  to  any  in  the 
world.  I  have  never  ridden  on  steamers  more 
perfect  in  all  their  appointments  and  in  their 
management  than  some  of  the  Japanese  steam- 
ships on  the  Pacific. 

In  agriculture  Japan  is  far  advanced,  perhaps 
about  as  far  as  is  possible  without  the  aid  of  ag- 
ricultural machinery.  Such  machinery  is  being 
introduced  to  some  extent,  but  the  very  small 
holdings  of  each  farmer  necessarily  limits  its 
availability.  Scientific  agriculture  is  taught  ex- 
tensively. There  are  in  the  Empire  two  univer- 
sity colleges  of  agriculture,  five  higher  agricultural 
schools,  and  about  two  hundred  agricultural, 
horticultural,  and  sericultural  schools  of  middle 
and  lower  grade.  The  graduates  of  these  schools 
are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  are  every- 
where promoters  of  a  new  agriculture. 

Although  the  natural  fertility  of  the  soil  of 
Japan  is  not  greater  than  our  own,  each  Japanese 
acre  yields  on  an  average  as  much  as  three  or  four 
acres  in  America.  That  is  the  reason  why  she  is  able 
to  feed  her  fifty-five  million  people  from  her  very 
limited  area  of  arable  land.  If  we  cultivated  all  our 
soil  as  well  as  Japan  does  hers,  the  United  States 
could  easily  feed  the  entire  population  of  the  world. 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  15 

In  forestry  Japan  is  well  advanced.  She  is  car- 
rying on  an  astonishing  amount  of  afforestation, 
especially  on  her  mountainsides.  We  in  America 
may  well  take  example  of  her. 

Japan  has  good  railroads,  though  not  equal  to 
our  own.  Unfortunately  they  are  narrow  gauge, 
which  she  regrets,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the 
difficult  and  expensive  task  of  changing. 

Herjiiattjse^  . 

Her  telegraph  service  is  good.     Telephones  are 
being  extensively  introduced. 

Sanitation,  cleanliness,  and  provision  for  the 
health  of  the  people  are  marks  of  civilization. 

Japan  has  excellent  sanitary  laws  and  they, 
are  very  strictly  enforced.  Probably  there  are 
no  cleanlier  people  |n  the  world  than  the  Japanese] 
whether  as  regards  their  homes  or  their  own  perl 
sons.  In  the  city  of  Tokyo  there  are  11 00  publii 
baths,  in  which  it  is  calculated  that  at  least  five 
hundred  thousand  persons  bathe  daily.  In  every 
respectable  private  house  there  is  a  bathroom. 
Practically  every  person  takes_a  fuJPLbath  once  a 
day^  Many  more  than  once.  This  is  true  of  the 
lowest  class.     Hot  baths  are  widely,  used. 

Japan  has  been  at  great  pains  and  expense  to 
introduce  the  best  medical  science  and  the  best 


16  RISING  JAPAN 

medical  practice  of  the  West.  Besides  encourag- 
ing her  young  men  to  study  medicine  in  the  best 
medical  schools  of  America,  France,  and  Germany, 
she  has  established  medical  schools  of  her  own, 
equipped  them  with  good  laboratories,  and  manned 
them  with  able  professors  from  the  West,  particu- 
larly from  Germany. 

With  such  medical  service,  of  course  she  has 
excellent  hospitals.  Her  medical,  surgical,  sani- 
tary, and  hospital  services  in  her  army  and  navy 
are  equal  to  any  in  the  world.  Their  excellence 
in  connection  with  the  war  between  Japan  and 
Russia  was  so  conspicuous  as  to  attract  the  at- 
tention and  win  the  admiration  of  every  western 
nation. 


CHAPTER  III 

Japanese  civilization  (Continued) 

The  Civilization  of  Japan  Compared  with  that  of 
Europe  and  America 

Temperancejs  a  mark  of  civilization. 

The  Japanese  people  are  more  temperate  than 
we  are,  and  much  more  temperate  than  are  the 
people  of  Great  Britain  or  Germany. 

Absence  of  crime  is  a  mark  of  civilization. 
What  about  crime  in  Japan  ? 

Practically  all  forms  of  criminality  found  in 
other  civilized  lands  are  found  there.  The  most 
common  are  theft,  fraud,  forgery,  gambling,  and 
embezzlement.  There  are  also  vote-buying,  dis- 
honest corporations,  and  even  " sugar  frauds." 
And  yet  we  of  the  West  cannot  throw  stones. 
Statistics  show  that  the  general  rate  of  criminality 
in  Japan  is  lower  than  in  the  United  States  and 
lower  than  in  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe.  As 
to  crimes  of  violence  it  is  distinctly  lower.  The 
*  n 


1 8  RISING  JAPAN 

annual  number  of  homicides  (murders  and  suicides) 
in  the  United  States  is  one  to  every  9500  of  the 
population.  In  Japan  it  is  only  one  in  53,000,  or, 
in  proportion  to  population,  less  than  one  fifth 
as  many. 

Japan  has  nothing  in  the  way  of  criminality  or 
brutality  that  is  nearly  so  bad  as  our  honible 
lynchings. 

Sex  morality  has  been  declared  to  be  low  in 
Japan. 

It  is  true  that  it  is  much  lower  than  it  ought  to 
be;  but  it  is  not  so  low  as  in  some  Christian  lands. 
For  example,  if  we  compare  Japan  with  Russia 
we  find  the  comparison  to  be  decidedly  favourable 
to  Japan.  In  both  countries  women  of  bad  char- 
acter are  registered.  The  books  of  the  police 
show  that,  before  the  war,  in  19 12,  while  there 
were  50,000  such  women  in  Petrograd  alone,  there 
were  only  43,000  in  the  whole  Japanese  Empire. 
If  we  compare  Petrograd  and  Tokyo,  the  two 
capitals,  with  one  another,  we  find  that,  Petro- 
grad, with  a  population  less  than  2,000,000,  con- 
tained 50,000  dissolute  women,  and  Tokyo,  with 
a  population  of  over  2,000,000,  contained  only 
6500,  or  about  one  seventh  as  many  in  proportion 
to  population.     Carrying  our  comparison  to  coun- 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  19 

tries  outside  of  Russia,  according  to  the  best 
statistics  I  have  been  able  to  obtain,  the  number 
of  evil  women  in  the  large  cities  of  Japan  generally 
is  not  more  than  one  third  or  one  fourth  as  great 
in  proportion  to  the  population  as  in  most  of  the 
largest  cities  of  Europe  and  the  United  States. 

Says  a  writer  of  high  standing,  now  living  in 
New  York,  but  who  knows  Japan  well  from  many 
years'  residence  there:  "As  long  as  the  white- 
slave trade  in  our  midst  is  so  horrible,  as  has  been 
revealed  by  the  vice  commissions  of  New  York 
and  Chicago,  we  had  better  refrain  from  making 
the  Japanese  a  target  of  criticism." 

Perhaps  there  is  no  higher  American  authority 
on  Japan  than  Dr.  Sidney  L.  Gulick.  Says  Dr. 
Gulick:  "No  one  can  deny  that  the  shameless 
immoralities  to  be  found  in  New  York,  Chicago, 
London,  Paris,  and  Berlin  surpass  anything  seen 
in  Japan."1 

If  we  inquire  regarding  illegitimate  births,  we 
find  that  at  least  six  of  the  countries  of  Europe 
have  a  higher  rate  of  illegitimacy  than  Japan. 
In  the  year  191 2  the  number  of  illegitimate  births 
in  Japan  was  only  93  per  10,000;  but  in  Italy 
it  was  98,   in  Belgium  III,   in  Sweden    125,   in 

1  The  White  Peril  in  the  Far  East,  p.  40. 


20  RISING  JAPAN 

Denmark,  133,  in  Hungary,  151.  In  Austria  it 
was  230,  or  nearly  two  and  a  half  times  as 
many  in  proportion  to  population  as  among  the 
Japanese.1 

The  number  of  divorces  in  Japan  is  greater  in 
proportion  to  the  population  than  in  most  of  the 
countries  of  Europe,  and  also  than  in  most  (but 
not  all)  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union.  Of 
course,  this  is  to  be  deplored.  It  should  be  said, 
however,  that  the  frequency  of  divorce  does  not 
grow  so  much  out  of  immorality  on  the  part  of 
either  husband  or  wife,  as  from  the  custom  long 
prevalent  in  Japan  (but  now  being  rapidly  changed) 
of  young  husbands  bringing  their  brides  to  live 
in  the  homes  of  the  husbands'  parents.  The 
dominance  of  mothers-in-law  over  the  wives  of 
their  sons  is  a  fruitful  breeder  of  trouble  between 
wives  and  husbands,  which  only  too  often  leads 
to  separation.  Now  that  the  custom  is  growing, 
of  newly  married  couples  at  once  establishing 
homes  of  their  own,  it  is  believed  that  divorces 
will  become  less  frequent. 

One  of  the  tests  of  a  high  civilization  undoubt- 
edly is  that  of  honesty,   personal  honesty  and 

1  Geo.  Kennan,  in  The  Outlook  of  August  31,  1912,  pp.  1014- 
1015. 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  21 

integrity  in  business  and  in  the  affairs  of  life 
generally.     Does  Japan  stand  this  test? 

Reports  have  been  circulated  in  this  country  by 
her  enemies,  and  perhaps  by  others,  to  the  effect 
that  she  does  not.  Disparaging  comparisons  are 
made  between  Japan  and  China,  and  we  are 
told  that  whereas  in  China  merchants,  traders, 
and  the  people  generally  can  be  trusted,  in  Japan 
the  grounds  for  trust  are  much  less  secure.  Many 
times  I  have  been  asked  whether  I  do  not  think 
this  is  so. 

My  answer  is:  Probably  it  may  have  been  true 
fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  when  Americans  first 
came  into  business  relations  with  Japan,  that 
there  was  a  difference  of  this  nature  between  the 
merchants  and  traders  of  the  two  nations.  Busi- 
ness honesty  in  the  past  has  been  high  in  China. 
In  Japan  business  honesty  and  honour  were  not  so 
high  formerly  as  they  are  now.  Outside  of  busi- 
ness the  Japanese  maintained  standards  of  honour 
that  were  unsurpassed;  but  they  do  not  seem  to 
have  carried  them  into  trade  as  fully  as  did  the 
Chinese.     The  reason  is  easy  to  find. 

For  ages  (during  all  the  centuries  of  Feudalism) 
the  trading  class  was  ranked  in  Japan  as  socially 
low,  lower  than  the  agriculturists  and  much  lower 


22  RISING  JAPAN 

than  the  samurai.  The  result  of  this  low  estimate 
in  which  trade  (the  whole  business  of  mere  money- 
making)  was  held,  was  that  the  moral  standards 
of  the  trading  class,  the  money-making  class, 
sank  to  a  lower  level  than  those  found  among 
other  classes  of  the  people.  This  continued  until 
the  New  Age  of  Japan ;  then  a  change  took  place. 
The  men  who  first  came  from  Japan  to  America 
and  Europe  to  study  western  civilization  returned 
to  tell  their  people  that  Japan's  future  prosperity 
and  success  must  be  found  largely  in  commerce  and 
trade  with  the  nations  of  the  West.  But  in  order 
to  meet  the  conditions  of  this  trade  and  commerce 
their  standards  of  business  honesty  and  honour 
must  be  as  high  as  those  of  the  West.  This 
raised  the  question :  How  could  such  standards  be 
secured  and  maintained?  At  once  it  was  seen 
that  the  obstacle  in  the  way  was  largely  social. 
There  must  be  a  change  of  social  ideals.  The  men 
engaged  in  commerce  and  trade,  in  business  and 
in  finance,  must  no  longer  be  looked  down  upon 
socially.  These  occupations  must  not  be  left 
to  the  least  respected  class  in  society.  The  very 
best  men  of  the  nation,  the  ablest  and  the  most 
respected,  must  take  them  up. 

The  result  was,  a  change  of  this  kind  was  en- 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  23 

tered  upon.  Encouraged  by  the  government, 
men  of  the  highest  character  and  social  standing 
began  more  and  more  turning  their  attention  to 
all  lines  of  business  and  finance.  There  seems 
reason  to  believe  that  today  the  financiers  of 
Japan  and  the  men  carrying  on  her  larger  indus- 
tries and  commercial  operations  are  of  as  high  a 
type  as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the  business  or 
financial  world. 

In  this  connection  it  seems  important  to  call 
attention  to  a  mischievous  story  which  has  been 
extensively  and  persistently  circulated  in  this 
country,  and  perhaps  others,  to  the  effect  that 
all  Japanese  banks  have  Chinese  cashiers  and 
managers  because  Japanese  men  sufficiently  honest 
and  trustworthy  cannot  be  found  to  fill  these 
responsible  positions.  Having  myself  repeatedly 
met  this  statement,  I  supposed  for  a  long  time 
that  it  was  true.     But  what  are  the  facts? 

The  story  is  absolutely  false.  Its  falsity  has 
been  set  forth  again  and  again  and  from  sources  of 
the  most  unquestionable  reliability — among  others 
by  Mr.  George  Kennan,  in  The  Outlook,  by  Pro- 
fessor Francis  G.  Peabody  in  The  North  American 
Review,  by  several  missionaries,  and  by  various 
Japanese    authorities    of    the    highest    standing. 


24  RISING  JAPAN 

Yet  the  falsehood  persists.  The  truth  in  the  case 
is,  there  are  upwards  of  2300  Japanese  banks  in 
Japan,  and  not  one  of  them  employs  a  Chinese 
cashier  or  general  manager.  Says  Mr.  K.  K. 
Kawakami  in  his  volume  Asia  at  the  Door:  "In 
all  my  life  I  have  never  heard  a  lie  so  unblushing 
as  this.  .  .  .  There  is  no  Japanese  bank  that 
employs  a  single  Chinese  in  any  capacity." 

Possibly  the  basis  or  starting  point  of  this 
widespread  and  harmful  fiction  may  be  found  in 
the  following  fact.  There  are  in  the  Orient  three 
or  four  international  banks,  such  as  the  Hongkong 
Shanghai  Bank  and  the  Charter  Bank  of  India, 
which  were  first  established  in  China,  and  which 
later  opened  branches  in  Japan  (in  Yokohama  and 
Kobe),  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  transacting 
business  between  Japan  and  China,  and  second- 
arily to  transact  international  business  generally. 
Of  course  in  these  three  or  four  banks  (which  are 
not  strictly  Japanese,  and  which,  coming  from 
China,  have  a  large  business  to  transact  with 
China,  a  country  whose  currency  is  multifarious 
and  exceedingly  difficult  to  understand),  it  is 
natural  and  almost  necessary  that  Chinese  cashiers 
and  bookkeepers  should  be  employed.  This  de- 
ceives not  a  few  American  travellers  who  happen 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  25 

to  have  provided  themselves  with  letters  of  credit 
to  these  particular  banks  because  of  their  inter- 
national character.  Going  to  these  banks  and 
receiving  their  money  from  Chinese  cashiers  they 
leap  to  the  conclusion,  and  spread  the  report, 
that  all  the  other  2300  banks  in  Japan  (all  of 
Japan's  own  banks,  as  well  as  these  three  or  four 
semi-foreign  ones)  employ  cashiers  from  China, 
which,  as  already  said,  is  not  true  in  a  single  case. 

However  high  Chinese  standards  of  business 
honesty  or  business  efficiency  may  be,  Japan  finds 
no  need  to  go  to  China  or  anywhere  else  outside 
of  her  own  borders  to  find  plenty  of  men  of  ability 
and  of  the  most  unquestionable  integrity,  to  carry 
on  all  her  banks,  and  also  her  other  lines  of  impor- 
tant business  activity.  One  wonders  how  long 
this  stupid  falsehood  about  the  Chinese  cashiers, 
so  often  exposed,  will  continue  to  be  circulated  in 
America,  to  the  cruel  injury  of  Japan.  * 

But  even  if  we  grant  that  Japanese  bankers  and 
men  conducting  business  on  a  large  scale  and  the 
higher  class  of  Japanese  people  generally  have 


1  A  somewhat  full  statement  of  the  facts  bearing  on  this  sub- 
ject may  be  found  in  The  Japanese  Nation,  by  Prof.  Inazo  Nitob£, 
pp.  169-173.  See  also  Asia  at  the  Door,  by  K.  K.  Kawakami, 
PP.  51-52. 


26  RISING  JAPAN 

standards  of  honour  and  honesty  comparable  with 
those  of  the  West,  is  it  not  true  that  the  great 
mass  of  the  Japanese  people  are  less  honest  and 
trustworthy  than  the  common  people  of  Christian 
lands?  Statements  to  this  effect  are  often  made 
by  enemies,  and  sometimes  by  persons  claiming 
to  be  friends  of  Japan.  Are  they  true?  Much 
investigation,  made  in  many  directions,  has  failed 
to  convince  me  that  they  are. 

Of  many  similar  testimonials  I  will  cite  one  or 
two.  A  Methodist  Doctor  of  Divinity,  who  is 
the  Presiding  Elder  of  a  large  missionary  district 
in  Japan,  who  has  lived  in  the  country  more  than 
forty  years  and  has  had  a  very  wide  experience 
among  the  people,  both  inside  his  own  churches 
and  outside,  explicitly  denied  to  me  that  there 
was  any  just  ground  for  statements  of  this  kind, 
and  declared  that  in  his  judgment  the  common 
people  of  Japan — artisans,  gardeners,  farmers, 
common  labourers,  and  others — are  as  honest  and 
trustworthy  as  the  same  classes  of  people  in  any 
country.  Comparing  servants  in  Japan  with  ser- 
vants in  America,  he  affirmed  that  he  had  found 
greater  faithfulness  and  trustworthiness  in  the 
Japanese.  In  his  home  in  Japan  his  family  had 
never  found  it  necessary  to  protect  themselves 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  27 

against  their  servants  by  putting  valuables  under 
lock  and  key.  Only  under  exceptional  circum- 
stances did  they  even  lock  the  doors  of  their  homes 
at  night.  "Both  my  experience  and  my  observa- 
tion," he  declared,  "justify  the  assertion  that  if 
you  treat  the  Japanese  people  fairly,  they  very 
rarely  disappoint  you,  or  fail  to  manifest  the  most 
scrupulous  honesty  and  honour  in  their  dealings 
with  you." 

An  American  friend  who  has  lived  in  Japan 
twenty-five  years,  with  whom  I  did  much  travel- 
ling, said  to  me:  "You  need  have  no  anxiety  here 
about  your  baggage.  If  you  were  travelling  or 
staying  at  a  hotel  in  Europe  you  would  have  to 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  all  the  while  or  something 
would  be  lost  or  stolen  or  in  some  way  go  astray. 
But  in  Japan  all  you  need  to  do  is  to  commit 
everything  you  have,  even  a  dozen  pieces,  to  your 
servant  or  porter,  and  at  the  end  of  your  journey 
or  the  end  of  the  day,  or  whenever  you  want  them, 
every  piece  will  be  there."  "I  trust  my  jinrikisha 
man,"  he  continued,  "my  coachman,  my  hotel 
porter  or  room  boy,  my  personal  servant,  to  a 
degree  that  would  be  entirely  unsafe  in  the  West, 
and  I  am  almost  never  disappointed." 

The  two  following  stories  came  to  my  know- 


28  RISING  JAPAN 

ledge  while  I  was  in  Japan.  They  are  very 
simple,  but  are  worth  noticing  as  throwing  light 
upon  the  honesty  of  the  common  people. 

The  first  story  was  of  an  American  lady  residing 
in  one  of  the  Japanese  cities  who  was  returning 
home  from  her  summer  vacation  in  the  mountains. 
When  the  train  stopped  at  a  small  station  (Isobe 
by  name)  she  put  her  head  out  of  the  car  window 
and  bought  a  package  of  cakes  of  a  boy  who  was 
vending  his  wares  on  the  platform.  The  price 
of  the  cakes  was  fifteen  sen,  but  not  being  able  to 
make  the  change  she  gave  him  twenty.  He  was 
so  busy  making  other  sales  that  before  he  could 
return  the  five  sen,  due  her,  the  train  started. 
Of  course  she  thought  she  would  never  see  her 
money;  but  it  was  a  small  matter  and  was  quickly 
forgotten.  What  was  her  surprise,  as  the  train 
stopped  at  the  next  station,  to  hear  a  boy  calling 
out  at  the  top  of  his  voice:  "Where  is  the  lady  to 
whom  the  cake  seller  in  Isobe  owes  five  sen?" 
She  told  him  that  she  was  the  person,  and  received 
her  change.  The  young  Isobe  cake  vendor  had 
telephoned  down  the  line  to  a  friend  in  this  place 
requesting  him  to  be  sure  to  go  to  the  train,  find 
the  lady,  and  pay  her  the  money  which  was  her 
due. 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  29 

The  other  story  was  as  simple  and  as  interesting. 
It  was  told  by  an  American  missionary  lady  liv- 
ing in  the  interior.  She  said  that  when  she  goes 
to  market  and  orders  a  chicken  to  be  delivered  the 
following  day  or  the  day  after,  the  boy  who  brings 
the  chicken  often  brings  with  it  an  egg.  The  first 
time  this  happened  she  wanted  the  egg  explained. 
Was  it  a  present?  No.  But  the  egg  had  been 
laid  after  the  lady  purchased  the  hen,  and  there- 
fore the  seller  insisted  that  it  belonged  to  her. 

On  hearing  these  stories  I  involuntarily  found 
myself  querying:  How  many  American  boys  who 
sell  cakes  at  a  railway  station  would  take  as 
much  trouble  as  that  Japanese  boy  at  Isobe  did, 
to  get  change  to  a  woman  whom  they  never  ex- 
pected to  see  again?  And  how  many  American 
poultry  boys  would  be  so  scrupulously  honest  as 
to  insist  that  their  customer  was  the  rightful 
owner  of  the  egg  which  his  hen  had  laid  be- 
tween the  time  it  was  bought  and  the  time  it  was 
delivered? 

Of  course  these  particular  boys  may  have  been 
exceptional  in  their  honesty;  indeed  I  am  quite 
prepared  to  admit  that  probably  they  were;  for 
the  Japanese  people,  like  ourselves,  are  very 
human.     Of  course,  too,  the  incidents  are  very 


30  RISING  JAPAN 

trifling.  And  yet  they  are  not  without  signifi- 
cance as  throwing  a  little  light  upon  the  question 
of  the  honesty  of  the  common  people  of  Japan. 

The  stories  made  me  wonder  whether  there 
was  any  connection  between  the  honesty  of  these 
boys  and  the  moral  instruction  which  they  receive 
in  their  schools.  In  Japan  moral  training  is  given 
to  the  extent  of  at  least  two  hours  a  week,  in  all 
schools  controlled  by  the  government,  that  is  in 
all  schools  except  a  comparatively  small  number 
which  are  in  private  hands. 

A  Japanese  educator  who  had  been  visiting  the 
schools  of  Boston  said  to  Edward  Everett  Hale: 
"We  do  not  devote  so  much  attention  to  arithme- 
tic in  our  schools  in  Japan  as  you  do  in  America." 
"What  takes  the  place  of  arithmetic?"  inquired 
Dr.  Hale.  The  Japanese  gentleman  replied: 
"We  teach  our  children  history  and  morals.  We 
think  arithmetic  tends  to  make  them  sordid." 

In  the  year  1890  the  Emperor  issued  what  is 
known  as  the  "Imperial  Decree  on  Education 
and  Morals,"  which  is  required  to  be  taught  as  an 
essential  in  the  instruction  of  all  Japanese  youth. 
What  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  the  most  essen- 
tial part  of  the  Rescript  consists  of  the  following 
precepts : 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  31 

Be  filial  to  your  parents. 

Be  affectionate  to  your  brothers. 

Be  harmonious  as  husbands  and  wives  and  faithful 
as  friends. 

Conduct  yourself  with  propriety  and  carefulness. 

Extend  generosity  and  benevolence  to  your  neigh- 
bours. 

Attend  to  your  studies  faithfully  and  practise  dili- 
gently your  respective  callings. 

Cultivate  your  intellects  and  elevate  your  morals. 

Advance  public  benefits  and  promote  the  general 
social  welfare. 

Always  render  strict  obedience  to  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  land. 

Display  personal  courage  and  public  spirit  in  the 
interest  of  your  country  whenever  required. 

What  nation  of  Europe  or  America  teaches  in 
its  schools  a  better  or  a  more  practical  system  of 
morals  than  this? 

If  any  of  us  have  thought  of  the  Japanese  people 
as  caring  only  for  material  things  and  not  also 
for  the  ideal  and  the  moral,  we  must  revise  our 
judgment.  I  have  already  said  that  in  .the  Japa- 
nese nature  there  is  a  large  ideal  element.  This 
idealism  appears  most  clearly,  perhaps,  in  their 
art;  but  it  also  manifests  itself  in  education,  in 
literature,  and  in  many  other  ways.  The  follow- 
ing   incident    is  suggestive  of  what    I  mean.     I 


32  RISING  JAPAN 

found  in  the  High  Commercial  College  of  Tokyo 
a  class  of  two  hundred  young  men  studying 
Emerson,  the  one  great  thinker  and  writer  of  the 
modern  world  in  whom  the  ideal  and  the  moral 
(the  ethical)  are  perhaps  most  richly  developed. 
Of  course  this  study  was  of  their  own  choice. 
Baron  Kanda,  the  Principal  of  the  College,  who 
was  their  teacher  and  leader,  told  me  that  he  had 
no  class  in  which  there  was  more  enthusiasm. 

A  distinguished  Japanese  when  he  heard  of  the 
death  of  Lafcadio  Hearn,  said:  "We  could  better 
have  lost  two  or  three  battleships." 


CHAPTER  IV 

Japanese  civilization  (Concluded) 

The  Civilization  of  Japan  Compared  with  that  oj 
Europe  and  America 

One  test  of  the  civilization  of  a  nation  doubt- 
less is  the  way  it  carries  on  war — the  way  it  treats 
prisoners  of  war,  and  its  obedience  or  disobedience 
to  the  established  laws  of  war,  and  indeed  to  all 
international  law. 

How  does  Japan  stand  this  test? 

T  think  I  am  quite  within  the  bounds  of  modera- 
tion when  I  say  that  she  appears  to  stand  it  as 
well  as  any  modern  nation. 

In  the  joint  military  expedition  sent  to  Pekin 
by  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France,  Russia, 
Japan,  and  the  United  States,  during  the  Boxer 
uprising  in  China,  to  rescue  the  imperilled  lega- 
tions, we  are  told,  upon  what  seems  to  be  the  best 
of  authority,  that  while  the  soldiers  of  most  of 
the  other  nations  engaged  extensively  in  looting, 
3  33 


34  RISING  JAPAN 

and  committed  serious  depredations  and  cruelties 
upon  the  Chinese  people,  the  Japanese  contingent 
(as  also  the  American)  refrained  absolutely  from 
everything  of  the  kind,  and  conducted  itself  in 
every  respect  in  accordance  with  the  most  honour- 
able laws  of  war. 

In  the  war  between  Japan  and  Russia,  Japan 
set  a  new  standard  of  morality  and  honour  for 
modern  armies,  in  the  conduct  of  her  soldiers,  in 
her  dealings  with  her  enemies,  and  especially  in 
her  treatment  of  her  prisoners.  To  their  amaze- 
ment the  Russian  prisoners  found  themselves 
everywhere  treated  with  the  utmost  courtesy  and 
kindness,  and  fed  and  housed  as  well,  and  treated 
medically  and  surgically  with  as  great  care,  as 
the  Japanese  soldiers  themselves.  All  reports 
coming  from  the  armies  in  the  field  agreed  that 
while  in  the  Russian  army,  among  both  officers 
and  men,  there  existed  loose  military  discipline, 
much  intemperance,  much  gambling,  much  de- 
bauchery, and  very  little  effective  sanitation, 
among  the  Japanese  there  was  strict  military 
discipline,  careful  sanitation,  universal  tem- 
perance, and  general  moral  conduct  of  a  high 
order. 

An  American  missionary  who  was  present  in 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  35 

Japan  during  the  war  with  Russia1  has  given 
the  following  testimony  as  to  the  remarkable 
absence  of  hatred  manifested  by  the  Japanese 
toward  the  Russian  people.  Writing  on  this 
subject  he  says: 

If  there  had  been  any  real  hatred  in  the  hearts  of 
the  Japanese  people  toward  the  Russians  it  certainly 
would  have  manifested  itself.  And  yet  not  once  did 
I  hear  of  anything  to  indicate  such  a  hatred.  On 
the  contrary,  I  often  heard  expressions  of  sympathy 
for  the  common  people  of  Russia  and  expressions  of 
hope  that  the  war  might  result  in  good  to  Russia 
as  a  whole.  When  Makarov,  the  Russian  admiral, 
went  down  with  his  flagship  I  was  unable  to  detect 
a  single  note  of  exultation,  but  I  observed  many 
evidences  of  sympathy  for  the  loss  of  so  brave  and 
able  a  commander  and  so  valuable  a  ship. 

A  similar  absence  of  rancour,  and  a  similar  feel- 
ing of  chivalry  and  kindliness  have  been  manifest 
from  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  with  Ger- 
many. When  diplomatic  relations  between  Japan 
and  Germany  were  severed,  a  general  order  was 
issued  by  the  Japanese  government  at  once,  and 
universally  promulgated,  pointing  out  that  there 
should  be  no  feeling  of  enmity  toward  any  German 
individually,  commanding  that  the  greatest  pos- 

1  Rev.  I.  W.  Cate  of  the  Universalist  Mission. 


36  RISING  JAPAN 

sible  care  should  be  taken  everywhere  to  give 
full  and  perfect  protection  to  all  subjects  of  Ger- 
many sojourning  within  the  Japanese  Empire, 
even  going  so  far  as  to  direct  that  vigilance  be 
taken  to  supervise  the  conduct  of  students  and 
school  children  to  the  end  that  they  might  not 
be  led  away  by  excessive  or  false  feelings  of  patri- 
otism to  be  discourteous,  or  "to  behave  them- 
selves toward  the  subjects  of  the  belligerent  power 
in  any  way  not  creditable  to  the  high  character 
of  the  Japanese  people." 

In  the  military  operations  of  Japan  against  the 
German  stronghold  in  Kiao-Chau,  China,  while 
the  Japanese  army  fought  hard  so  long  as  there 
was  fighting  to  be  done,  as  soon  as  the  city  sur- 
rendered, every  possible  courtesy  was  shown  to 
the  Germans,  to  lessen  the  humiliation  of  their 
defeat  and  to  promote  their  physical  comfort. 

If  the  fine  example  set  by  Japan  in  these  respects 
has  been  followed  by  the  European  nations  in 
the  war  of  19 14,  how  different  would  have  been 
the  terrible  record! 

Love  of  peace  is  a  mark  of  true  civilization. 
Has  Japan  this  mark? 

Contrary  to  an  impression  widespread  in  this 
country,  which  has  been  created  and  persistently 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  37 

disseminated  by  our  jingoes  and  by  other  enemies 
of  Japan,  the  Japanese  people  are  and  for  centuries 
have  been  eminently  peaceful  in  their  ideals  and 
their  national  life. 

It  is  true  that  they  have  done  considerable 
righting  during  the  past  twenty-five  years;  but 
it  has  all  been,  as  they  have  believed,  directly  or 
indirectly  in  self-defence/  Indeed,  Japan's  prin- 
cipal war,  that  with  Russia  in  1904- 1905,  was  one 
which  she  felt  herself  compelled  to  wage  in  order 
to  preserve  her  very  existence.  But  as  to  her 
previous  record,  she  has  been  beyond  question, 
for  a  long  period,  one  of  the  most  peaceful,  perhaps 
the  most  peaceful,  nation  in  the  entire  world. 
For  more  than  250  years,  while  we  in  the  United 
States  had  fought  four  wars,  besides  all  our  wars 
with  the  Indians,  and  while  the  nations  of  Europe 
had  carried  on  conflicts  almost  innumerable, 
some  of  them  on  a  vast  scale  and  of  the  most  san- 
guinary character,  Japan  had  fought  no  war, 
but  had  remained  absolutely  at  peace  at  home  and 
abroad;  and  for  a  much  longer  time — a  period 
of  nearly  1300  years — she  had  had  only  one  war 
with  a  foreign  people.  In  justice  it  should  be 
said  that  this  freedom  from  foreign  wars  was 
probably  partly  due  to  her  isolation.     And  yet, 


38  RISING  JAPAN 

taking  that  into  full  consideration,  her  peace  record 
is  remarkable. 

To  be  sure,  before  her  long  era  of  home  peace 
began  Japan  had  passed  through  an  age  of  tur- 
bulence, somewhat  similar  to  the  Feudal  Age  in 
Europe,  and  during  that  period  there  was  much 
petty  strife  and  bloodshed  among  her  barons  and 
her  chiefs,  as  was  the  case  in  most  of  the  Euro- 
pean countries.  But  that  period  ended  in  Japan 
three  centuries  ago,  and  since  that  time,  as  has 
just  been  intimated,  she  has  had  a  record  of 
peace,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  which  is  actu- 
ally superior  to  that  of  any  nation  of  the  western 
world. 

It  is  one  of  the  strange  anomalies  of  a  civiliza- 
tion calling  itself  Christian  that  the  professedly 
Christian  nations  of  the  West  virtually  compelled 
Japan  to  create  for  herself  a  strong  army  and  navy 
and  to  show  herself  formidable  as  a  military  power 
before  they  would  consent  to  grant  her  equal 
international  rights  with  themselves,  or  admit 
her  to  fellowship  as  a  first-class  nation.  Her  edu- 
cation, her  art,  her  industries,  the  intelligence  of 
her  people,  her  civilization  older  than  that  of  many 
of  the  nations  of  Europe,  did  not  avail:  she  had 
to  show  that  she  could  fight;  then  but  not  before 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  39 

they  were  willing  to  treat  her  with  justice  and  to 
give  her  a  place  by  their  side. 

Said  Count  Hayashi,  the  distinguished  Japanese 
statesman,  at  the  time  of  the  Russo-Japanese 
War: 

Today  we  Japanese  have  battleships,  torpedoes, 
cannon.  The  China  seas  redden  with  the  blood  of 
our  own  killed  and  of  those  whom  we  kill.  Our  tor- 
pedoes roar,  our  shrapnel  shriek,  and  we  die  and 
are  the  cause  of  death.  And  you  occidentals  say  to 
us:  "Now  you  have  won  your  rank;  you  have  civil- 
ized yourselves."  Centuries  upon  centuries  we  have 
had  artists,  painters,  sculptors,  philosophers,  litera- 
ture.    Were  we  then  barbarians? 

We  Americans  call  ourselves  a  peaceful  people, 
and  point  to  Japan  as  warlike.  But  let  us  look 
at  this  fact.  In  the  years  before  the  European 
War  began,  while  we  were  at  peace  with  all  the 
.world  and  when  no  hostilities  threatened  us  from 
any  quarter,  we  were  expending  sixty-seven  per 
cent,  of  our  large  national  income  on  wars  past 
or  future.  What  of  Japan?  At  the  same  time 
her  total  expenditure  for  war  purposes  was  only 
thirty-seven  per  cent,  of  her  relatively  small 
national  income. 

We  call  ourselves  peaceful  and  the  people  of 
Japan  warlike.     But  who  invented  the  machine 


40  RISING  JAPAN 

gun?  Who  invented  armoured  ships?  Who  in- 
vented the  submarine?  Who  invented  the  aero- 
plane, and  called  the  attention  of  the  world  to 
it  as  a  new  instrument  for  human  destruction? 
Not  Japan,  but  America.  We  invented  every- 
one of  these  horrible  engines  of  death  that  are 
making  war  a  new  terror  on  the  earth.  Then 
why  do  we  not  point  to  ourselves  rather  than  to 
Japan,  as  warlike? 

After  Commodore  Perry  had  caused  the  opening 
of  the  Japanese  ports,  when  the  people  of  Japan 
were  learning  for  the  first  time  about  the  great 
Christian  world  of  the  West,  they  were  shocked 
to  find  out  how  many  savage  wars  we  carry  on. 
They  wondered  whether  they  could  not  do  some- 
thing to  help  us  become  more  peaceful.  A  dis- 
tinguished Japanese  patriot  and  ethical  teacher, 
Yokoi  Shonan  by  name,  actually  begged  his 
government  to  send  him  to  the  western  nations 
as  an  ambassador  of  peace  to  plead  with  them 
to  end  their  bloody  conflicts.  "These  Christian 
nations  of  the  West,"  he  said,  "have  constantly 
been  fighting  brutal  and  bloody  wars.  Let  us  go 
there  and  teach  them  how  great  are  the  blessings 
of  peace." 

Japan's  love  for  peace  is  not  confined  to  the 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  41 

past.  There  is  the  strongest  evidence  that  it  is 
active  today.  A  little  while  before  the  breaking 
out  of  the  European  War  the  Carnegie  Peace 
Foundation  of  this  country  sent  Dr.  Charles  W. 
Eliot  of  Harvard  University  and  Dr.  David  Stan- 
Jordan  of  Leland  Stanford  University,  as  its 
representatives  to  Japan  and  other  countries  of 
the  Orient  to  speak  upon  the  subject  of  peace. 
Following  a  little  after  these  gentlemen,  as  I  did, 
I  was  amused  as  well  as  interested  to  hear  the 
comments  that  were  spoken  in  not  a  few  Japanese 
circles  regarding  their  mission.  Everyone  re- 
ferred to  them  with  great  respect,  regarding  it  as 
an  honour  to  their  nation  to  be  visited  by  men  of 
such  high  character  and  distinction.  But  why, 
the  question  was  asked  again  and  again,  did  Ameri- 
cans think  it  important  to  send  peace  advocates 
to  Japan?  Japan  was  already  in  sympathy  with 
peace  aims,  and  ready  to  do  everything  in  her 
power  to  assist  in  organizing  the  world  for  the 
promotion  of  peace.  Indeed  nothing  did  she  so 
much  desire  as  peace,  except  justice  and  honour. 
The  countries  where  peace  advocacy  was  needed, 
it  was  declared,  were  America  and  Europe. 

I  think  I  may  venture  to  mention  magnanimity 
as  a  mark  of  a  noble  civilization. 


42  RISING  JAPAN 

There  are  many  evidences  of  the  magnanimity 
of  the  Japanese  people.  We  Americans  have  had 
many  illustrations  of  it  in  our  dealings  with  them. 
I  will  cite  two. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  indignities  which  the 
State  and  people  of  California  have  heaped 
upon  the  Japanese,  when  in  the  year  1906  San 
Francisco  suffered  its  great  double  calamity  of 
earthquake  and  fire,  the  people  of  Japan  sent  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  aid  her  sufferers. 

When  I  was  in  Japan  in  the  autumn  of  19 13 
I  found  the  public  there  widely  discussing  the 
question  whether  the  government  ought  to  accept 
the  invitation  which  it  had  received  to  make  an 
exhibit  at  the  Panama  Exposition  in  San  Fran- 
cisco a  year  or  two  later.  Some  said:  "No! 
After  the  treatment  which  our  people  have  been 
subjected  to  in  California,  we  cannot;  we  must 
retaliate;  we  must  refuse  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  Exposition  until  our  wrongs  are  righted." 
This,  however,  was  not  the  spirit  which  I  found  to 
be  uppermost.  The  more  influential  part  of  the 
people  and  also  the  government  said:  "We  will 
not  stoop  to  retaliation.  The  United  States  is  a 
friendly  power.  The  American  people  as  a  whole 
have  not  injured  us.     Only  a  part  of  the  people 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  43 

of  California  have  been  unfair  to  us.  Let  us  act 
as  if  we  had  suffered  no  wrong."  As  a  result  what 
did  we  see  ?  The  Japanese  government  rose  quite 
above  all  thoughts  of  retaliation  or  resentment, 
and,  at  a  large  expense,  furnished  one  of  the  finest 
if  not  the  very  finest  foreign  exhibit  in  the  entire 
Exposition. 

In  these  two  incidents  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the 
deeper  Japan,  the  truer  Japan — the  Japan  which 
some  of  us  so  strangely  misunderstand,  and,  in 
our  ignorance,  distrust  and  misrepresent. 

Judged  of  by  one  test  Japanese  civilization 
seems  to  us  of  the  West  not  to  be  high.  That 
test  is  the  status  of  woman. 

To  us  the  lives  of  the  women  of  Japan  seem 
limited,  circumscribed,  subordinated  to  the  will 
and  the  interests  of  the  male  members  of  their 
families,  to  too  great  a  degree  to  be  conducive  to 
the  highest  welfare  of  either  the  home  or  the  na- 
tion. In  this  respect  she  seems  to  us  to  occupy  a 
place  clearly  below  that  of  the  United  States,  and 
below  that  of  several  of  the  more  advanced  nations 
of  Europe. 

However,  it  should  be  noted  that  a  change  for 
the  better  has  begun  and  is  going  forward  steadily 
and  even  rapidly.     Japan  has  established  universal 


44  RISING  JAPAN 

elementary  education  for  her  girls  as  well  as  for 
her  boys.  Provision  for  advanced  education  for 
girls  and  young  women  is  rapidly  increasing.  In 
Tokyo  I  found  a  well-equipped  Woman's  Univer- 
sity with  fifteen  hundred  students.  And  I  was 
informed  that  the  universities  established  for 
young  men  are  beginning  to  open  their  doors  to 
young  women. 

In  several  other  directions  also  besides  education 
women  are  finding  a  larger  life.  A  Japanese  ver- 
nacular paper  in  a  recent  issue  gives  a  list  of  sixty- 
four  occupations  now  open  to  women,  which  were 
formerly  confined  to  men.  The  Imperial  Railway 
Bureau  employs  nearly  four  thousand  women  as 
ticket  sellers,  cashiers,  and  bookkeepers.  The 
Bank  of  Japan  has  120  women  employees.  Women 
typists  are  numerous.  Probably  some  of  the  new 
occupations  which  women  are  entering  are  not 
wholly  a  boon.  Great  numbers  of  women  and 
girls  are  now  employed  in  factories,  in  some  of 
which  the  hours  are  too  long,  the  wages  too  low, 
and  the  health  conditions  are  far  from  good. 
However,  we  should  remember  that  factory  life 
in  Japan  is  new.  Probably  its  conditions  are  not 
worse  than  were  those  of  this  country  and  Eng- 
land when  factory  life  began  with  us.     We  have 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  45 

made  great  improvements  as  time  has  gone  on, 
although  our  factory  laws  and  factory  conditions 
are  still  far  from  perfect.  Encouraging  improve- 
ments are  going  forward  in  Japan.  We  must 
give  her  time. 

There  are  now  in  Japan  women  artists,  novel- 
ists, journalists,  poets,  musicians,  actors,  doctors. 
The  women  physicians  mostly  serve  in  hospitals, 
but  some  are  carrying  on  their  profession  inde- 
pendently and  with  success.  Women  teachers  are 
fast  increasing  in  numbers.  There  are  good  normal 
colleges  for  their  training,  and  nearly  half  the  prim- 
ary schools  of  the  nation  are  now  in  their  charge. 

I  think  it  may  truthfully  be  said  that  both  the 
intellectual  and  the  social  life  of  woman  in  Japan 
are  being  steadily  elevated.  She  is  coming  to  be 
given  a  position  in  all  respects  more  nearly  equal 
to  that  of  man.  More  and  more  she  is  being 
made  man's  real  companion.  Japan's  contact 
with  the  West,  especially  with  America,  seems  to 
have  done  much  to  give  the  nation  a  new  ideal  for 
woman.  There  are  unmistakable  signs  that  a 
better  day  is  coming  for  Japanese  womanhood. 

A  good  test  of  civilization  is  philanthropy, 
interest  in  movements  for  the  unselfish  aid  of 
those  who  are  in  need. 


46  RISING  JAPAN 

Perhaps  there  is  no  finer  philanthropy  in  our 
time  than  the  Red  Cross.  How  stand  Japan  and 
the  United  States  as  related  to  this  movement? 
Although  the  Red  Cross  was  introduced  into 
Japan  much  later  than  into  this  country,  its  growth 
proceeded  much  more  rapidly  there  than  here. 
On  the  1st  of  March,  191 7,  the  United  States  had 
only  three  hundred  thousand  Red  Cross  members, 
while  Japan  had  two  million,  with  a  yearly  income 
of  approximately  three  million  dollars.1 

I  mention  only  one  other  mark  of  civilization. 
It  is  religious  toleration.  Where  this  is  found 
civilization  is  likely  to  be  high.  What  do  we 
find  to  be  the  condition  of  things  in  Japan? 

I  think  I  am  right  in  answering  that  nowhere 
in  the  world  is  there  a  higher  degree  of  religious 
toleration  than  among  the  Japanese  people.  In 
Japan  there  is  perfect  freedom  for  all  faiths. 
Christianity,  a  foreign  religion,  and  comparatively 
a  newcomer  into  the  country,  is  given  perfect 
equality  before  the  law  with  the  old  long-estab- 
lished faiths  of  the  land.     This  is  remarkable. 

If   Buddhist   and   Shintoist   missionaries  from 


1  Since  the  date  named  the  Red  Cross  of  the  United  States 
has  greatly  increased  its  membership,  as  well  as  raised  a  very- 
large  sum  of  money  for  use  in  connection  with  the  war  in  Europe. 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  47 

Japan  should  come  in  numbers  to  this  country 
and  establish  churches  and  schools  here,  and  should 
endeavour  to  induce  our  young  people  to  leave 
our  Christianity  and  accept  their  faiths,  as  our 
Christian  missionaries  go  to  Japan  and  establish 
churches  and  schools  and  try  to  induce  the  Bud- 
dhist and  Shintoist  young  people  of  that  country 
to  forsake  their  religions  and  accept  Christianity, 
does  any  one  think  that  we  would  be  as  tolerant 
as  the  Japanese  are?  Does  any  one  think  we 
would  treat  those  Buddhist  and  Shintoist  mission- 
aries with  as  much  consideration  as  the  Japanese 
treat  our  missionaries?  Japan  not  only  allows 
Christian  missionaries  from  foreign  lands  to  organ- 
ize and  carry  on  churches  and  schools  in  perfect 
freedom,  but  she  permits  those  Christian  organiza- 
tions to  hold  property  and  to  enjoy  exemption 
from  taxation.     Think  of  this ! 

Two  or  three  years  ago  the  Mikado  of  Japan 
made  a  present  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
to  an  Episcopalian  hospital  in  Tokyo.  Would 
the  President  of  the  United  States  or  the  King  of 
England  or  the  Emperor  of  Germany  be  likely  to 
make  a  present  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
to  a  Buddhist  hospital  if  one  were  established  in 
either  of  these  countries? 


48  RISING  JAPAN 

Several  years  ago  in  a  time  of  serious  political 
disturbance  in  Tokyo  a  riotous  mob  damaged 
many  buildings,  among  them  several  Christian 
churches.  What  followed?  Leading  Buddhists  of 
that  city  came  forward  and  offered  to  pay  two 
thirds  of  the  cost  of  repairing  these  damaged 
Christian  churches. 

I  am  afraid  Japan  much  surpasses  us  in  religious 
toleration,  generosity,  and  charity. 

In  these  comparisons  which  I  am  making  be- 
tween the  civilization  of  Japan  and  that  of  the 
Christian  nations  of  the  West,  my  aim  is  not  to 
hold  up  Japan  as  a  paragon  of  perfection,  or 
her  people  as  exhibiting  no  intellectual  or  moral 
limitations.  Very  far  from  that.  Japanese  civil- 
ization, like  our  own,  is  far  from  perfect.  The 
Japanese  people  are  not  all  angels,  by  any  means; 
but  certainly  they  are  not  all  devils.  They  have 
many  limitations,  some  of  them  very  serious. 
But  of  what  nation  may  not  the  same  be  said? 
We  all  easily  see  the  faults  of  our  neighbours. 
Nations  criticize  other  nations  much  more  severely 
than  themselves.  Race  antipathies  abound. 
Especially  is  it  true  that  the  "white"  race  is 
likely  to  look  down  upon  other  races  without 
much    sympathy    and    therefore    without    much 


JAPANESE  CIVILIZATION  49 

understanding — judging  of  them  often  very  super- 
ficially, very  ignorantly,  and  very  cruelly. 

What  I  am  trying  to  do  is  simply  to  aid  a  little, 
if  I  may,  in  causing  the  people  of  this  country  to 
lay  aside  their  national,  racial,  and  religious  pre- 
judices, and  to  judge  of  this  rising  and  important 
neighbour  nation  of  ours  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Pacific,  fairly  and  justly,  that  is,  by  the  same 
standards  that  we  employ  in  judging  our  neigh- 
bour nations  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  that  we  want  other  nations  to  employ  in 
judging  us. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION  OF  AMERICA 

How  the  Idea  Arose 

Why  has  any  such  thought  ever  come  into 
anybody's  mind  as  that  there  is,  or  ever  has  been, 
or  within  any  discernible  future  ever  will  be, 
danger  of  the  United  States  being  invaded  or 
attacked  by  Japan? 

Do  we  not  know  that  Japan  has  far  more  reason 
to  talk  of  peril  from  us  than  we  of  peril  from  her? 
I  do  not  mean  that  either  nation  has  any  just 
ground  for  suspecting  the  other;  but,  as  between 
the  two,  I  think  it  ought  to  be  recognized  and 
confessed  that  we  have  done  and  said  more  things 
that  seem  capable  of  being  interpreted  as  hostile 
or  threatening  than  has  Japan.  Let  me  make 
clear  what  I  mean. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  no  one 
has  ever  been  able  to  point  out  one  single  case 
showing  any  thought  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese 

50 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      51 

government  of  invading  this  country,  or  any 
hostile  intent  against  us,  or  any  desire  to  encroach 
on  our  rights.  Absolutely  every  case  of  seeming 
hostility  or  seeming  intention  to  attack  us  that 
has  been  paraded  before  the  public  has  either  been 
based  on  misunderstanding,  or  else  it  has  been 
a  pure  fake,  invented  by  enemies  of  Japan,  or  by 
German  or  other  parties  desiring  to  embroil  us 
with  Japan.  Of  this  point  I  shall  speak  more 
fully  later  on. 

But  while  no  man  can  put  his  finger  upon  any- 
thing in  the  conduct  of  the  Japanese  government 
which  furnishes  ground  for  our  fearing  Japan, 
there  have  been  some  things  done  by  our  govern- 
ment and  many  done  by  our  people  which  have 
seemed  to  the  Japanese  to  furnish  real  grounds 
for  apprehension  on  their  part  that  we  may  be 
cherishing  hostile  designs  against  them. 

In  the  first  place,  in  all  our  growth  as  a  nation, 
we  have  been  more  and  more  extending  our  ter- 
ritory toward  and  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  We  be- 
gan our  national  career  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 
All  our  original  thirteen  States  were  there.  By 
the  Ordinance  of  1787  new  States  were  created 
extending  as  far  west  as  the  Mississippi,  or  about 
one  third  of  the  way  across  the  continent.     In 


52  RISING  JAPAN 

1803  the  Louisiana  Purchase  was  made,  extending 
our  territory  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  distance 
to  the  Pacific.  In  1846  by  the  settlement  of  the 
Oregon  question  we  obtained  a  large  area  of  ter- 
ritory on  the  Pacific.  In  1848  this  area  was 
greatly  enlarged  by  our  compelling  Mexico  to 
cede  to  us  the  large  territory  now  known  as  the 
State  of  California,  which  gave  us  a  national 
frontage  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  of  more  than  one 
thousand  miles. 

This  brought  us  face  to  face  with  Japan,  she 
on  one  side  of  the  Pacific  and  we  on  the  other. 

But  we  did  not  stop  here  in  our  push  toward 
Asia.  In  1867,  we  purchased  from  Russia  the 
very  large  territory  of  Alaska,  which  added  more 
than  three  thousand  miles  to  our  coast  line  on  the 
Pacific,  on  Bering  Sea,  and  on  Bering  Strait.  This 
brought  us  to  within  thirty-six  miles  of  the  Asiatic 
continent.  Furthermore,  with  Alaska  we  obtained 
the  long  chain  of  Aleutian  Islands,  which  stretched 
out  for  a  distance  of  twelve  hundred  miles  from 
the  Alaska  coast  in  the  general  direction  of  Japan. 

But  even  here  we  did  not  pause  in  our  advance 
Asia- ward.  In  1823  we  had  announced  to  the 
world  what  is  known  as  our  Monroe  Doctrine, 
by  which  we  let  it  be  known  that  from  that  time 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      53 

forward  the  United  States  could  not  consent  to 
allow  any  European  (or,  presumably,  any  other 
foreign)  power  to  plant  colonies  on  either  American 
continent.  Of  course  the  natural  implication 
from  this  was  that  in  return  for  our  exclusion  of 
foreign  nations  from  American  territory,  we  on 
our  part  would  refrain  from  encroaching  on  foreign 
territory.  But  to  this  implication  we  have  not 
been  true.  In  1898  we  proceeded  to  annex  to  the 
United  States  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  which  are 
situated  in  the  Pacific  nearly  halfway  to  Japan. 
In  the  same  year  also  we  wrested  from  Spain  the 
island  of  Guam,  far  on  toward  the  Philippines, 
and  the  Philippines  themselves,  a  large  and  im- 
portant island  group  only  a  little  way  from  the 
Asiatic  coast  and  near  to  Japan.  Finally,  in 
1899,  by  an  agreement  with  Great  Britain  and 
Germany,  we  obtained  possession  of  the  Tutu- 
ila  group  of  the  Samoa  Islands,  in  the  central 
southern  Pacific. 

Thus  in  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  we 
had  not  only  extended  our  territory  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  for  thousands  of  miles 
along  the  Pacific  coast  almost  to  within  sight  of 
Asia,  but  we  had  also  pushed  our  way  almost 
across  the  Pacific  Ocean  itself,  taking  possession 


54  RISING  JAPAN 

of  and  fortifying  islands  of  great  strategic  impor- 
tance, some  of  them  within  a  few  hundred  miles  of 
Japan. 

Is  it  any  wonder  if  the  Japanese  people  have 
seen  all  this  with  some  apprehension? 

Suppose  that  Japan  had  extended  her  territory 
toward  us  as  we  have  extended  our  territory  to- 
ward her.  Suppose  she  had  gradually,  either  by 
conquest  or  purchase,  gained  possession  of  the 
Asiatic  coast  north  of  her  to  Bering  Strait,  within 
thirty-six  miles  of  America?  Suppose  she  had 
pushed  out  over  the  Pacific  Ocean,  seizing  and 
fortifying  Guam  and  Hawaii,  and  a  group  of 
islands  as  large  as  the  Philippines,  that  is,  contain- 
ing an  area  equal  to  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  situated  as  near  to  our  coast  as 
the  Philippines  are  to  her  shores — would  we  be 
quite  happy  over  the  situation?  Would  we  feel 
quite  sure  that  we  were  safe,  and  that  Japan  had 
no  sinister  designs  against  us? 

Surely  these  facts  should  help  us  to  see  that  if 
there  is  cause  for  fear  or  distrust  on  either  side, 
it  is  Japan  that  has  cause  to  fear  and  distrust  us, 
not  we  her. 

For  while  we  have  been  doing  these  things  she 
has  been  doing  nothing  of  the  kind.     She  has 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      55 

threatened  us  in  no  way.  She  has  encroached 
upon  our  rights  in  no  respect.  While  we  have 
not  confined  ourselves  to  the  Occident,  she  has 
confined  herself  strictly  to  the  Orient.  She  has 
not  seized  or  shown  any  sign  of  a  desire  to  seize 
a  foot  of  land  in  or  near  the  United  States  or  on 
the  American  continent. 

In  other  ways,  too,  we  have  given  her  what 
have  seemed  to  some  of  her  people  grounds  for 
uneasiness. 

We  have  long  had  a  navy  more  than  twice  as 
strong  as  that  of  Japan.1  Yet  our  military  and 
naval  men  and  their  friends  have  been  constantly 
urging  further  naval  increase,  and  increase  on  the 
Pacific;  and  very  large  appropriations  for  such 
increase  have  actually  been  made  at  various  times 
by  Congress.  What  has  all  that  meant?  Is  it 
strange  if  to  many  Japanese  it  has  seemed  to  mean 
hostility  to  them?  What  other  nation  could  we 
have  in  mind  in  constantly  enlarging  our  fleet, 
when  we  were  at  peace  with  all  the  nations  of 
Europe? 

Unfortunately,  too,  this  apprehension  on  their 
part  has  found  what  seemed  abundant  justifica- 
tion in  a  great  flood  of  shallow  but  loud-voiced 

1  Proof  of  the  truth  of  this  statement  will  be  given  later, 


56  RISING  JAPAN 

talk,  jingo  talk,  pugnacious  talk,  spread-eagle 
talk,  that  has  been  sweeping  over  this  country 
for  a  dozen  years  about  the  Pacific  being  "our 
ocean,"  an  "American  ocean";  about  our  right 
and  our  need  as  a  nation  to  be  "supreme  on  the 
Pacific,"  to  "dominate  the  Pacific,"  to  make 
ourselves  "masters  of  the  Pacific,"  and  all  that 
kind  of  thing;  as  if  other  nations  (Canada,  Mexico, 
Colombia,  Peru,  Chile,  Russia,  Japan,  China,  and 
Australia)  did  not  have  in  the  aggregate  a  many 
times  longer  coast  line  on  the  Pacific  than  we  do, 
and  therefore  a  many  times  over  greater  right  to 
"own"  it;  as  if  we  or  any  of  the  nations  on  its 
shores  had  any  more  right  or  need  to  "own"  or 
"dominate"  it  than  Great  Britain  or  France  or 
Spain  or  Brazil  or  Argentina  or  any  nation  in  the 
world  had  to  "own"  or  "dominate"  or  "make 
itself  master"  of  the  Atlantic  or  any  other  ocean 
in  the  world ! 

It  has  to  be  confessed  with  humiliation  that 
this  kind  of  foolish,  buncombe,  irritating,  incen- 
diary talk  has  been  indulged  in  by  many  men 
who  ought  to  have  known  better,  even  by  men 
inside  of  the  walls  of  Congress.  Why  did  they 
not  stop  to  reflect  how  unjust  and  dishonourable 
it  was;  and  how,  reported  in  Japan,  as  of  course 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      57 

it  would  be,  it  could  not  but  tend  seriously  to 
wound  and  alienate  an  honourable  and  friendly- 
neighbour  nation,  whose  friendship  should  be 
prized  by  every  American? 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION  OF  AMERICA 

(Continued) 
How  the  Idea  Arose 

I  think  there  is  not  an  intelligent  man  in  this 
country  who  would  ever  have  dreamed  of  an 
invasion  from  Japan  had  not  the  thought  been 
conjured  up  and  set  afloat,  on  the  one  hand  by- 
enemies  of  Japan,  and,  on  the  other,  by  reckless 
jingoes  and  militarists  among  us  who  hoped  that 
by  creating  a  popular  scare  of  this  kind,  they 
might  secure  increased  appropriations  for  the 
navy. x 

I I  do  not  care  to  mention  the  names  of  persons  carrying  on 
this  war  against  Japan  any  further  than  to  say  that  the  two 
men  who  seem  to  have  been  more  responsible  for  its  inauguration 
than  any  others  were  Captain  R.  P.  Hobson  and  "General" 
Homer  Lea,  in  his  book,  The  Valour  of  Ignorance.  Mr.  Lea  was 
an  adventurer  who  palmed  himself  off  on  the  public  as  a  military 
officer  of  large  knowledge  and  high  rank,  on  the  basis  of  a  fake 
claim  of  having  rendered  important  military  service  in  China. 
As  many  as  a  dozen  or  fifteen  years  ago  Captain  Hobson  began 

58 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      59 

Such  a  vast  organized  campaign  of  persistent, 
many-sided  hostility  and  misrepresentation  carried 
on  for  years  against  any  nation,  as  for  a  decade 
and  more  has  been  waged  by  certain  men  and 
interests  in  this  country  against  Japan,  seems 
wellnigh  incredible.  The  misrepresentations  of 
these  foes  of  Japan  and  these  alarmists  have  been 
exposed  numberless  times  by  men  of  the  most 
unquestionable    knowledge    and    of    the    highest 


using  the  bogey  of  a  "Japanese  Peril"  as  a  "  big  stick  "  which  so 
long  as  he  was  in  Congress  he  brandished  with  tireless  vigour  over 
the  heads  of  his  fellow  Congressmen,  and,  so  far  as  he  could,  over 
the  heads  of  the  American  people,  with  the  purpose  of  compel- 
ling them  to  do  their  duty  and  save  the  nation  from  impending 
destruction  by  building  a  big  navy  against  Japan.  The  modest 
sum  that  he  thought  would  be  sufficient  for  that  end  was  two  and 
a  half  billion  dollars.  He  named  December,  191 1,  as  the  latest 
date  on  which  Japan  would  begin  war  on  us.  The  war  he  told 
us  would  last  five  years,  and  might  last  ten. 

So  much  for  the  inception  of  our  Japanese  scare. 

Three  of  the  latest  books  on  the  subject,  written  in  the  spirit 
of  Captain  Hobson  and  "General"  Lea,  which  paint  everything 
Japanese  "red,"  and  which  give  us  full  information  of  the  devilish 
plottings  of  Japan  and  the  awful  danger  that  hangs  over  our 
head  like  the  sword  of  Damocles,  are  Mr.  Carl  Crow's  Japan 
and  America,  Mr.  Frederick  McCormick's  The  Menace  of  Japan 
(19 1 7),  and  Mr.  Montaville  Flowers'  The  Japanese  Conquest  of 
American  Opinion  (19 17). 

As  proof  that  this  miserable  business  of  stirring  up  ill  feeling 
toward  Japan  is  not  over,  and  is  not  likely  soon  to  be  over  unless 
the  American  people  arouse  themselves  to  the  peril  of  it,  is  seen 
by  the  fact  that  two  of  these  incendiary  books  bear  the  date  of 
the  present  year. 


60  RISING  JAPAN 

character,  such  as  Dr.  William  Elliot  Griffis,  Dr. 
Sidney  L.  Gulick,  Dr.  John  H.  DeForest,  Prof. 
H.  A.  Millis,  Dr.  Jesse  F.  Steiner,  President  J.  A. 
B.  Scherer,  Prof.  James  F.  Abbott,  Dr.  Hamilton 
W.  Mabie,  Dr.  Hamilton  Holt,  Dr.  David  Starr 
Jordan,  Dr.  Doremus  E.  Scudder,  Mr.  George 
Kennan,  Mr.  Lindsay  Russell,  our  American 
Ambassadors  to  Japan,  almost  the  entire  body  of 
our  American  missionaries,  and  many  Japanese 
writers  of  eminence  and  reliability.  And  yet  the 
misrepresentations  continue  to  be  poured  out 
upon  the  public  in  newspapers,  magazines,  and 
books.  Says  Dr.  Griffis:  "I  find  that  seven 
tenths  of  the  press  articles  in  this  county  hostile  to 
Japan  are  downright  falsehoods.  They  are  either 
gross  exaggerations,  or  else  pure  misrepresenta- 
tions and  calumnies."  Mr.  George  W.  Guthrie, 
our  late  United  States  Ambassador  to  Japan,  in 
an  address  delivered  in  Tokyo,  February  22, 
191 7  (one  of  his  last  public  utterances),  took  pains 
to  point  out  the  chief  cause  of  all  the  suspicions  and 
misunderstandings  that  exist  between  the  United 
States  and  Japan  as  being  ''irresponsible  utter- 
ances, sometimes  malicious,  of  which  mountains 
are  made." 

If  there  is  any  man  in  the  United  States  that  is 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      61 

in  a  position  to  know  the  real  facts  as  to  the  rela- 
tions existing  between  this  country  and  Japan,  it 
is  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations  in  our  national  House  of  Representatives. 
The  late  David  J.  Foster,  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Relations  in  the  House,  whose 
death  was  so  great  a  loss  not  only  to  his  own 
country  but  to  the  cause  of  international  peace 
and  justice  in  the  world,  was  quoted  in  the  New 
York  Evening  Post  of  April  23,  191 1,  as  saying: 

I  am  absolutely  convinced  that  there  is  a  criminal 
conspiracy  on  foot  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  on  a 
war  between  the  United  States  and  Japan.  Thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  dollars  are  being  spent  to 
carry  on  this  propaganda. 

Probably  the  most  influential  religious  body  in 
this  country,  and  the  body  most  closely  in  touch 
with  Japan  and  other  foreign  countries  and  most 
intelligent  concerning  our  foreign  relations  gen- 
erally, is  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America.  At  its  Quadrennial  Meeting 
of  191 6  this  distinguished  body  passed  unani- 
mously the  following  resolution : 

Whereas,  Certain  newspapers  of  the  United  States 
have  published  cartoons,   displays,   advertisements, 


62  RISING  JAPAN 

serial  stories,  and  black-faced  editorials  highly  in- 
sulting to  Japan,  and  promoting  among  our  people 
an  attitude  of  suspicion,  race  prejudice,  and  animosity 
inimical  to  the  maintenance  of  friendly  relations: 
therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in  America  hereby  expresses  its  condemna- 
tion of  this  misuse  of  the  press,  and  urges  upon  all 
editors,  reporters,  and  publishers  their  incomparable 
opportunity  in  promoting  good-will  between  our- 
selves and  other  nations,  founded  upon  correct  infor- 
mation, sympathetic  understanding,  and  universal 
human  brotherhood. 

These  scare-mongers  have  been  at  work  ever 
since  the  Japanese-Russian  War.  The  methods 
employed  by  them  usually  have  been  either  to 
take  friendly  utterances  of  Japanese  statesmen 
and  read  into  them  veiled  meanings  of  hostility 
to  this  country;  or  to  interpret  every  appropria- 
tion of  money  made  by  Japan  for  her  army  or 
navy  (appropriations  always  smaller  than  our 
own)  and  every  change  made  in  her  military 
system  as  a  menace  to  us;  or  to  exaggerate  and 
colour  the  most  trivial  and  innocent  incidents  in 
such  ways  as  to  make  them  appear  evidences  of 
secret  plots  either  to  attack  us  at  once  or  to  secure 
a  dangerous  military  footing  on  or  near  our  shore 
so  as  to  be  ready  to  attack  us  in  the  future. 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      63 

A  good  illustration  of  the  latter  is  the  famous 
Magdalena  Bay  alarm  of  191 1. 

In  the  spring  of  that  year  a  highly  sensational 
report  was  published  widely  by  the  papers  of  the 
country  to  the  effect  that  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment had  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land  on 
Magdalena  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Lower  Califor- 
nia, with  the  object  of  fortifying  the  place  and 
establishing  there  a  powerful  naval  base.  This 
was  declared  to  be  one  more  evidence  of  the 
hostility  of  Japan  and  her  secret  design  to  invade 
our  shores.  The  report  was  so  widely  circulated 
and  believed  that  the  matter  was  taken  up  in  the 
United  States  Senate  and  the  American  govern- 
ment ordered  an  investigation  to  be  made.  What 
was  the  result?  It  was  found  that  the  Japanese 
government  had  neither  made  any  such  purchase 
nor  taken  any  steps  looking  in  the  direction  of 
such  a  purchase.  The  sole  basis  for  the  story  was 
that  an  American  syndicate  had  obtained  pos- 
session of  some  land  on  Magdalena  Bay  with  the 
hope  of  selling  it  to  Japan.  But  Japan  would 
have  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

A  still  more  famous  alarm  was  that  connected 
with  Turtle  Bay  in  the  year  191 5,  which  is  still 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  many. 


64  RISING  JAPAN 

After  some  preliminary  hints  that  a  dark  plot 
of  Japan  against  us  was  being  unearthed,  the 
New  York  Herald  in  its  issue  of  April  15th  of  the 
year  named  came  out  with  a  most  sensational 
and  detailed  report  to  the  effect  that  Japan  had 
actually  sent  a  naval  and  military  force  and  was 
secretly  establishing  at  Turtle  Bay  on  the  coast  of 
Lower  California,  only  four  hundred  miles  from 
San  Diego  and  therefore  within  easy  striking 
distance  of  our  Pacific  Coast  cities,  a  strong  mili- 
tary and  naval  base.  The  report  was  printed 
under  big  scare  headings  and  occupied  two  thirds 
of  a  page  of  the  Herald.  It  was  eagerly  caught 
up  by  the  press  of  the  country  and  carried  to 
every  part  of  the  land,  the  more  sensational 
papers  giving  it  startling  headings  and  in  many 
cases  adding  editorials  emphasizing  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  anathematizing  all  foolish  and 
unpatriotic  persons  who  refused  to  be  alarmed, 
and  calling  frantically  upon  the  country  to  protect 
itself  by  building  more  battleships  and  greatly 
increasing  its  army. 

The  exact  things  discovered  in  Turtle  Bay 
according  to  the  Herald  story  (and  the  writer 
declared, ' '  I  saw  them  there ' ')  were :  Five  Japanese 
warships,  six  colliers  and  supply  ships,  four  thou- 


Jb 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      65 

sand  Japanese  marines  and  sailors  in  actual  occu- 
pation of  Turtle  Bay,  the  harbour  mined,  a  wire- 
less telegraphic  plant  in  operation,  one  or  more 
Japanese  patrol  ships  guarding  the  approach  to 
the  harbour,  while  armed  men  and  sixty  tons  of 
ammunition  were  landed,  six  hundred  Japanese 
sailors  armed  with  rifles  marching  daily  down  to 
the  beach  from  some  concealed  place  back  behind 
the  camp. 

With  such  an  alarming  story  as  this  in  all  the 
papers  of  the  land,  and  half  of  them  giving  cre- 
dence to  it,  of  course  the  government  felt  com- 
pelled to  make  an  investigation.  Accordingly, 
as  soon  as  possible,  Commodore  Irwin  of  the  U.  S. 
cruiser  New  Orleans  visited  Turtle  Bay,  and  what 
did  he  find?  Simply  a  sensational  "yarn," 
fabricated  out  of  practically  nothing.  In  the 
preceding  December  a  Japanese  cruiser  had 
grounded  on  a  mud  bank  in  the  bay  and  was 
abandoned.  Recently  the  Japanese  government 
had  sent  to  the  place  a  repair  ship  and  a  coal 
vessel,  and  these  were  engaged  in  a  peaceful  and 
wholly  legitimate  endeavour  to  rescue  the  stranded 
vessel — an  endeavour  in  which  our  own  govern- 
ment had  offered  to  assist  them  if  desired. 

This  was  the  whole  basis  of  the  scare.     Indeed 


66  RISING  JAPAN 

the  repair  ship  with  its  attendant  coaling  boat, 
two  British  colliers,  and  four  fishing  craft  com- 
prised everything  found  in  the  bay.  The  five 
warships,  five  out  of  the  six  reported  Japanese 
colliers,  the  four  thousand  marines  and  sailors, 
the  mined  harbour,  the  wireless  telegraphic  plant 
in  operation,  the  patrol  ships  guarding  the  bay, 
the  landing  of  armed  men  and  of  sixty  tons  of 
ammunition,  the  camp  on  shore  and  the  daily 
marching  of  armed  men  to  the  beach  from  a  secret 
place  back  of  the  camp,  were  all  a  pure  fiction. 

When  the  government  report  exposing  the  fic- 
tion was  published,  what  did  the  papers  of  the 
country  do?  Of  course  some  of  the  better  ones 
took  pains  to  let  their  readers  know  the  facts; 
but  very  large  numbers  either  made  no  mention 
at  all  of  what  had  been  found  out,  or  else  did  it 
so  briefly  and  in  such  obscure  type  that  few  readers 
became  aware  of  the  correction,  and  the  conse- 
quence is  that  multitudes  of  people  in  all  parts  of 
the  land  still  believe  the  Turtle  Bay  yarn,  and 
continue  to  cite  it  as  proof  of  Japan's  hostility 
and  secret  intention  to  invade  this  country.  The 
New  York  Outlook,  commenting  on  the  wretched 
affair,  well  said:  "This  sensational  story  was 
something  more  serious  than  the  ordinary  insult 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      67 

to  the  intelligence  of  newspaper  readers,  because 
it  concerned  relations  with  a  friendly  people. 
The  journals  that  printed  it  ought  to  apologize 
to  their  readers."     How  many  did  apologize? 

The  Magdalena  Bay  and  Turtle  Bay  fictions 
are  simply  samples.  A  great  number  of  others 
of  a  similar  character,  all  equally  without  founda- 
tion, have  been  sprung  on  an  unsuspecting  public 
at  opportune  times,  now  in  this  quarter,  now  in 
that.  Mr.  George  Kennan  has  compiled  a  list 
of  twenty-two  of  these  sinister  yarns.  Mr.  Kawa- 
kami  in  an  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  refers 
to  six  others.  Ever  since  1906  the  pot  has  been 
kept  boiling. 

A  favourite  form  of  these  stories  is  one  which 
represents  great  numbers  of  Japanese  as  being 
discovered  at  one  place  or  another,  secretly  organ- 
ized and  drilling  as  soldiers  for  the  purpose  of 
attacking  the  country  or  joining  an  invading  army 
later  to  arrive  from  Japan. 

For  example:  A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  a 
certain  group  of  papers  published  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  a  series  of  highly  sensational  reports 
declaring  that  there  are  ''two  hundred  thousand 
trained  Japanese  soldiers  in  Mexico,"  all  ready  at 
the  word  of  command  to  invade  the  United  States, 


68  RISING  JAPAN 

These  men  are  not  known  as  soldiers,  we  were 
told;  to  prevent  suspicion  they  are  all  disguised 
as  farmers,  gardeners,  miners,  clerks,  bookkeepers, 
and  so  forth;  but  as  a  fact  all  are  trained  fighters 
and  their  real  business  in  Mexico  is  to  aid  in  the 
coming  invasion  of  the  northern  republic. 

Since  these  reports  were  sent  out  so  widely  and 
were  believed  by  large  numbers  of  persons  in  the 
United  States  to  be  true,  the  Japanese  Legation 
in  Mexico  City  took  up  the  matter  and  made 
an  investigation,  and  the  Japan  Society  of  New 
York  in  its  Bulletin  No.  34  (dated  October  23, 
1916)  gave  the  result.  The  facts  turned  out  to 
be,  that  there  are  in  the  whole  of  Mexico  not  to 
exceed  two  thousand  Japanese  persons,  all  told, 
counting  both  sexes  and  all  ages.  Of  these  two 
thousand  about  three  hundred  are  women  and 
children,  leaving  the  total  number  of  men  not 
above  seventeen  hundred.  Nor  is  this  all.  It 
also  turned  out  that  only  a  small  proportion  of 
these  seventeen  hundred  men  (not  more  than 
ten  per  cent.)  had  ever  received  any  military 
training.  Thus  the  awful  menace  of  two  hundred 
thousand  trained  Japanese  soldiers,  ready  at  any 
time  to  come  down  on  our  nation  "like  a  wolf 
on  the  fold"  and  capture  us  all,  shrunk  to  some 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION       69 

170  men,  scattered  in  all  parts  of  Mexico,  from  the 
United  States  border  on  the  north  to  Central 
America  on  the  south,  for  the  most  part  having 
no  connection  with  one  another  and  not  even 
knowing  one  another,  but  all  of  them  peaceful 
men  simply  pursuing  their  different  vocations  like 
other  peaceful  persons;  and  most  or  all  of  them  in- 
dustrious, respected,  and  valuable  members  of  the 
various  communities  of  which  they  formed  parts. 

A  corresponding  report  has  been  widely  circu- 
lated throughout  the  country  to  the  effect  that 
there  are  seventy  thousand  trained  Japanese 
troops  in  California,  masquerading  as  farmers, 
miners,  day  labourers,  merchants,  and  civilians 
generally,  but  really  an  advance  army  ready  to 
assist  when  the  time  comes  in  the  capture  of  our 
Pacific  Coast.  This  report,  too,  silly  as  it  is, 
amazing  as  it  is,  has  been  investigated,  and  of 
course  turns  out  to  be  as  unfounded  and  as  wanton 
as  that  of  the  two  hundred  thousand  Japanese 
soldiers  in  Mexico. 

Here  we  get  an  insight  into  the  methods  by 
which  suspicion  of  Japan  has  been  created  in  this 
country.  Of  all  the  stories  and  so-called  proofs 
of  Japan's  hostility,  and  secret  purpose  to  invade 
our  shores,  that  have  been  put  into  circulation 


70  RISING  JAPAN 

among  us  during  the  past  ten  years,  not  one  has 
had  any  more  basis  in  fact  than  the  Magdalena 
Bay  and  Turtle  Bay  yarns,  and  the  reports  of  the 
two  hundred  thousand  trained  Japanese  soldiers  in 
Mexico  and  the  seventy  thousand  in  California. 
Absolutely  every  one  has  been  shown  to  be  baseless. 
And  yet  designing  men  who  are  hostile  to  Japan, 
or  who  for  some  reason  would  like  to  create  trouble 
between  Japan  and  ourselves,  or  who  are  unscru- 
pulous enough  to  employ  this  method  of  frightening 
this  country  into  increased  naval  appropriations, 
have  continued  to  circulate  these  stories;  and  a 
well-meaning  but  misled  public  has  continued  to 
believe  them.  Thus  two  great  and  honourable 
nations  that  ought  to  be  friends,  respecting  and 
trusting  each  other,  have  been  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree  estranged,  and  everything  possible  has 
been  done  to  make  them  foes. * 


1  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Japan  is  actually  fighting  by 
our  side  in  a  common  war,  certain  hostile  critics  have  sought  to 
make  us  suspicious  of  her,  by  declaring  that  she  has  done  and 
is  doing  very  little  in  the  war,  and  thus  is  proving  false  to  her 
obligations.  Is  the  assertion  true?  No.  Let  me  cite  the  tes- 
timony of  the  Outlook.  Says  that  journal  (Oct.  3,  191 7):  "The 
capture  of  Kiao-chau  was  a  great  deal  more  than  the  dislodg- 
ment  of  a  German  force  from  the  only  German  possession  in  the 
Far  East.  It  put  Germany  out  of  the  Pacific,  and  made  com- 
merce safe  for  the  Allies  in  the  Far  East.     Together  with  Japan's 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      71 

On  the  very  day  that  the  distinguished  Japanese 
Commission  landed  on  our  shores  (in  August, 
191 7),  bringing  a  message  of  fraternal  good  will 
and  an  expression  of  the  desire  of  the  Japanese 
government  to  co-operate  with  us  in  the  heartiest 
and  most  effective  ways  in  the  war  for  liberty  in 
Europe,  a  long,  sensational,  illustrated,  syndicated 
article  of  the  most  venomous  type  was  published 
in  a  great  number  of  papers  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  aiming  to  thwart  the  aims  of  the  Commis- 
sion and  poison  the  mind  of  the  nation  with  the 
idea  that  all  the  aims  of  Japan  are  sinister,  that 
the  purpose  of  the  Commission  was  to  deceive  us, 
and  that  even  if  Japan  refrains  from  attacking 
us  while  the  war  in  Europe  continues,  she  will 
only  strike  us  the  harder  when  the  war  is  over. 

help  in  the  capture  of  the  notorious  German  raider  Emden, 
and  Japan's  service  in  convoying  Australian  troops  to  England, 
it  meant  that  she  cleared  the  Pacific  from  the  Teutonic  danger. 

"But  this  is  only  a  part  of  Japan's  actual  service  so  far  rendered. 
She  has  furnished  vast  quantities  of  munitions,  cloth,  and  sup- 
plies of  all  kinds  to  Russia  over  the  Trans-Siberian  railway — 
a  service  which  Japan  was  the  only  nation  in  position  to  render. 
Still  another  definite  service  rendered  was  the  despatch  of  naval 
ships  from  Japan  to  the  Mediterranean  to  aid  the  Allies  in 
meeting  the  submarine  warfare  in  those  waters,  thus  releasing 
other  vessels  for  use  in  the  Atlantic." 

All  these  forms  of  aid  to  the  Allies  have  been  simply  invaluable. 
The  fact  is,  from  the  beginning  Japan  has  shirked  no  responsibility 
but  has  done  her  full  share  in  the  war. 


72  RISING  JAPAN 

How  can  such  a  devil  article  be  accounted  for? 
Is  there  any  other  explanation  so  reasonable  as 
to  suppose  it  inspired  by  German  enmity  to  the 
United  States  and  paid  for  by  German  money, 
with  the  hope  that,  if  the  American  people  can 
be  deeply  alarmed  over  Japan,  their  energies  may 
be  correspondingly  diverted  from  prosecuting  the 
war  against  Germany? 

As  this  illustrated  and  syndicated  article,  so 
shamefully  slandering  Japan,  is  one  of  the  latest 
of  its  kind  and  is  a  good  sample  of  a  whole  ven- 
omous brood,  it  seems  worth  while  briefly  to 
examine  it.  It  lies  before  me  as  I  write.  It  is 
accompanied  by  a  picture  of  the  author,  whose 
name  I  withhold.  It  is  also  accompanied  with  a 
map  of  the  world,  on  which  a  heavy  black  line  is 
drawn  inclosing  most  of  the  waters  and  islands  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  together  with  Japan,  Korea, 
Manchuria,  the  whole  of  China,  the  French  pos- 
sessions to  the  south  of  China,  the  Kingdom  of 
Siam,  Tibet,  and  the  whole  of  India.  This  vast 
area  we  are  told  is  to  be  included  in  the  empire 
which  Japan  is  insidiously  planning  to  create. 
This,  however,  is  only  the  Asiatic  part.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  she  proposes  to  conquer  and  add  to 
it  the  United  States  and  all  the  Latin  republics, 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      73 

that  is,  all  of  North  and  South  America  except 
Canada.  In  view  of  her  alliance  with  Great 
Britain  she  generously  consents  to  refrain  from 
adding  Canada  to  her  empire  at  present.  Still 
further,  on  the  map  is  also  portrayed,  as  its  most 
startling  feature,  the  figure  of  a  huge,  hideous 
Japanese  soldier  standing  on  the  sea  between 
Japan  and  Korea  and  casting  his  black  shadow 
entirely  across  the  Pacific,  one  of  the  shadow's 
hands  holding  a  rifle,  and  the  other,  gigantic  in 
size,  reaching  out  to  seize  both  Americas.  Under 
the  map  and  picture  in  large  heavy  black  letters 
are  the  words:  "Here's  how  Japan  is  threatening 
to  establish  a  great  Asiatic  autocracy  dominating 
the  Pacific,  with  its  eastern  tip  forming  a  dagger 
threatening  the  very  shores  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Latin- American  republics." 

The  Asiatic  part  of  this  huge  empire  we  are 
informed  is  to  comprise  seven  million  square  miles 
of  territory  and  a  population  of  one  billion. 
Adding  the  Americas,  the  empire's  total  area  is 
to  be  about  nineteen  million  square  miles  and 
its  total  population  about  1,160,000,000.  Thus 
when  Germany  is  conquered  and  her  ambition 
for  world  dominion  has  failed,  Japan  is  to  take  up 
the  same  r61e,  and  unless  we  arm  heavily  against 


74  RISING  JAPAN 

her  and  thwart  her  secret  ambitions,  she  is  to 
conquer  and  rule  us  and  practically  the  whole 
world  except  Canada  and  Europe. 

Incredible  as  it  seems,  this  is  the  kind  of  thing 
that  for  a  dozen  years  has  been  put  before  the 
people  of  the  United  States  in  a  hundred  forms, 
through  newspapers,  magazines,  books,  and  photo- 
plays, by  hundreds  of  secret  enemies  of  Japan, 
many  of  whom  we  have  reason  to  believe  are 
secret  allies  of  Germany. 

Is  there  any  ground  for  these  representations? 
Not  the  slightest.  They  are  fabrications  from 
beginning  to  end.  No  man  has  ever  been  able 
to  show  one  single  fact  justifying  anything  of  the 
kind.  They  are  the  creations  either  of  igno- 
rance, dense  prejudice,  or  the  sinister  motives  of 
evil  men.  Under  the  pretence  of  rousing  America 
to  protect  herself  from  danger,  their  only  possible 
effect  is  to  injure  America,  to  stab  Japan,  and 
to  help  Germany. 

Do  the  American  people  believe  these  repre- 
sentations? Yes;  millions  of  them  do.  That  is 
the  strange,  dark,  dangerous  thing,  for  when 
nations  circulate  and  believe  such  evil  reports 
about  one  another,  wars  become  inevitable.  Why 
do  we  in  America  believe  these  suspicion-breeding, 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      75 

fear-breeding,  hate-breeding,  war-breeding  decla- 
rations about  Japan?  Not  because  they  are 
true,  but  simply  and  only  because  they  are  put 
before  us  times  without  number,  especially  in 
newspapers  that  are  ever  ready  to  print  sensa- 
tions, and  we  do  not  see  them  contradicted.  As 
a  fact,  they  are  contradicted  and  exposed  in  almost 
every  case,  and  by  men  of  the  highest  authority; 
but  the  contradictions  do  not  get  into  the  papers 
that  publish  the  sensations,  or  if  they  do,  it  is 
usually  in  the  smallest  type  and  the  most  obscure 
corners  where  they  are  seen  by  not  one  in  ten  of 
the  persons  who  have  read  and  been  influenced 
by  the  scare-headed  fabrications  and  slanders. 
The  force  of  uncontradicted  iteration  and  reitera- 
tion is  almost  omnipotent.  Said  Mr.  Dooley  to 
Mr.  Hennessy:  "I'll  believe  anything,  anything, 
if  ye'll  tell  it  to  me  of 'en  enuf."  This  explains 
exactly  the  credence  given  by  multitudes  in  this 
country  to  the  sensational  things  they  read  about 
Japan.  We  know  that  children  can  be  made  to 
believe  things  the  most  absurd  if  they  are  always 
taught  them  and  never  hear  anything  to  the 
contrary.  The  same  is  largely  true  with  men, 
both  individuals  and  nations.  By  an  organized 
campaign  of  misrepresentation  and  calumny  car- 


76  RISING  JAPAN 

ried  on  for  a  series  of  years  any  one  of  the  great 
nations  in  the  world  can  be  filled  with  suspicion 
and  fear  of  any  other  nation  with  which  it  has 
relations.  Such  a  campaign  as  has  been  conducted 
in  this  country  against  Japan  would  have  created 
alienation  even  between  us  and  England,  the 
nation  nearest  of  kin  to  ourselves,  had  it  been 
directed  against  her.  So  powerful  for  evil  is  the 
influence  of  reiterated,  persistent,  and  uncon- 
tradicted misrepresentations  and  slanders. 

Alas!  most  of  us  have  a  lot  of  the  Mr.  Dooley 
in  us.  There  are  few  things  so  absurd  that  we 
do  not  believe  them  if  they  are  "told  to  us  of  en 
enuf." 

It  is  particularly  to  be  regretted  that  any  causes 
of  estrangement  should  have  sprung  up  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States  after  the  happy 
friendship  that  has  existed  so  long  between  them, 
and  after  the  earnest  efforts  put  forth  by  the 
Japanese  people  to  make  that  friendship  perma- 
nent, and  to  show  their  abiding  esteem  for  the 
people  of  America. 

How  can  we  as  a  people  be  unmindful  of  the 
many  ties  that  bind  the  two  nations  together? 
How  can  we  forget  that  in  her  long  and  trying 
task  of  reshaping  her  national  ideals  and  adjust- 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      77 

ing  herself  to  the  civilization  of  the  western  world, 
Japan  has  looked  to  us  for  help  and  leadership 
more  than  to  any  other  nation? 

How  can  we  forget  the  large  number  of  Ameri- 
cans, many  of  them  men  of  eminence,  whom  she 
has  invited  to  Japan  for  longer  or  shorter  periods, 
some  for  long  terms  of  years,  to  serve  her  in  highly 
honourable  and  responsible  positions  as  her  ad- 
visers and  teachers  in  education,  in  science,  in 
finance,  in  almost  all  departments  of  her  national 
life? 

How  can  we  forget  that  she  has  sent  far  more  of 
her  best  young  men  to  the  United  States  to  be 
educated  than  to  any  other  country — young  men 
who  by  their  almost  uniformly  high  ability  and 
high  character,  and  also  by  their  subsequent 
careers  of  honourable  distinction  at  home  after 
their  return  from  this  country,  have  been  an  honour 
both  to  their  own  nation  and  to  our  universities 
and  scientific  schools  where  they  have  received 
their  training? 

How  can  we  overlook  the  exceedingly  cordial 
welcome  Japan  has  always  extended  to  American 
missionaries,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they 
came  to  teach  a  religion  different  from  her  own? 

How  can  we  be  oblivious  of  the  generous  and 


78  RISING  JAPAN 

warm-hearted  hospitality  which  she  unfailingly 
extends  to  Americans  who  visit  her  Empire? 

Finally,  how  can  we  forget  that  one  of  the  finest 
monuments  in  Japan,  and  one  that  she  points  to 
with  pride,  is  a  beautiful  statue  of  the  American 
Commodore  Perry,  erected  by  the  Japanese  people 
on  the  pine-clad  beach  of  Kurihama,  where  that 
distinguished  naval  commander  first  set  foot  on 
Nippon's  soil,  to  summon  Japan  to  take  her  place 
in  the  fraternity  of  the  world's  nations? 

Americans  visiting  Japan  may  find  in  the  ar- 
chives of  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo  many 
relics  and  memorials  of  Commodore  Perry  which 
are  guarded  with  great  care  as  treasures  of  the 
Empire.  Among  them  are  Perry's  original  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Japan,  elaborately 
engrossed  and  bearing  its  great  seal,  numerous 
scrolls  painted  by  Japanese  artists  of  that  time, 
pictures  of  the  American  vessels,  and  portraits 
of  the  officers.  Also  should  be  mentioned  the 
famous  small  engine  and  train  and  the  telegraph 
apparatus  sent  by  President  Fillmore  as  presents 
to  the  Shogun.  These  are  all  preserved  with 
scrupulous  care  as  valued  memorials  of  a  man 
whom  the  Japanese  people  have  never  ceased  to 
hold  in  high  honour,  and   of  a  friendship   with 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      79 

the   American  nation  which  Japan  has   always 
prized. 

Is  this  friendship  which  has  existed  for  more 
than  sixty  years  without  a  break,  and  alike  honour- 
able to  both  nations,  to  be  allowed  to  be  put  in  jeo- 
pardy by  mischief-makers,  by  ignorant,  reckless, 
prejudiced,  or  designing  men,  with  consequences 
sure  to  follow  of  the  most  seriously  harmful 
character  alike  to  Japan  and  to  ourselves? 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION  OF  AMERICA 

(Continued) 
Is  such  an  Invasion  Probable  ?    Is  it  Possible  ? 

I  come  now  to  the  part  of  my  subject  which  is 
far  more  important  than  any  other;  which  for 
several  years  has  been  widely  agitating  the  mind 
of  the  American  people,  and  to  which  all  that  has 
been  said  hitherto  in  these  pages  leads  up.  It  is 
the  question:  Is  the  United  States  in  danger  of  a 
Japanese  attack  or  invasion  ? 

Some  of  the  reasons  for  believing  that  we  are 
in  no  such  danger  are  the  following : 

First:  There  are  many  and  weighty  evidences 
that  the  national  ideal  which  Japan  has  set  before 
herself  and  toward  which  she  has  been  steadily 
pressing  ever  since  she  opened  her  ports  to  the 
western  world,  is  not  a  career  of  military  conquest, 
but  one  of  ever  growing  industrial  and  commer- 
cial development — a  career  of  leadership  in  the 
East  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  manufactures, 

80 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      81 

in  trade,  and  in  finance,  similar  to  that  of  England 
or  Germany  (Germany  apart  from  her  military 
obsession)  in  the  West. 

True,  she  has  proved  by  her  recent  history  that 
her  people  are  brave  fighters  if  the  necessity  arises, 
as  peaceful  peoples  are  likely  to  be.  But  the 
declaration  made  by  some  that  she  has  been  in 
the  past  or  is  now  a  nation  ambitious  for  war, 
rests  on  no  foundation.  As  we  have  already  seen, 
up  to  the  past  generation  she  has  had  no  war  of 
any  kind  for  nearly  three  centuries,  and  no  foreign 
war  for  more  than  four  times  as  long.  Until  we 
or  some  other  nation  of  Europe  can  show  a  peace 
record  even  approximating  this,  it  ill  becomes  us 
to  point  to  the  Japanese  as  a  people  dangerous 
on  account  of  their  warlike  nature. " 

1  Several  years  ago  Dr.  John  H.  DeForest,  who  lived  thirty- 
three  years  in  Japan  and  obtained  as  thorough  a  knowledge  of  the 
Japanese  people  and  of  the  spirit  of  the  nation  as  perhaps  any 
American  has  ever  done,  heard  one  of  the  incendiary  addresses 
against  Japan  which  Captain  R.  P.  Hobson  has  delivered  in 
so  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  in  which  that  bellicose 
gentleman  affirmed  the  warlike  and  dangerous  character  of  Japan 
and  our  need  to  arm  against  her.  A  few  days  after  hearing  the 
address,  Dr.  DeForest  published  in  the  Hartford  Courant  an 
"Open  Letter"  to  Mr.  Hobson,  in  which  among  other  things  he 
said: 

"Please  let  me  ask  you,  Captain  Hobson,  where  did  you  learn 
all  this  that  you  say  about  the  warlike  character  of  Japan?  Isn't 
your  history  a  little  loose?     I  should  suppose  that  a  Congress- 


82  RISING  JAPAN 

Of  course  there  is  a  militaristic  jingo  element  in 
Japan,  as  unfortunately  there  is  in  America,  and 
in  every  other  land.  This  element  is  dangerous 
wherever  found.  But  the  assurances  which  I 
received  in  Japan  from  public  leaders  and  men  of 
wide  knowledge,  as  well  as  my  own  observations 
there,  convinced  me  that  this  jingo  element,  so 
far  from  representing  the  nation  as  a  whole,  is 
somewhat  less  numerous,  less  influential,  and 
therefore  less  dangerous  than  is  the  corresponding 
element  in  this  country.     The  truth  seems  to  be 

man  would  know  that  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
Commodore  Perry's  visit  there  was  no  nation  on  earth  that 
could  compare  with  Japan  in  the  peace  habit.  While  Europe 
and  America  were  in  the  midst  of  long  years  of  bitter  wars, 
revolutions,  and  mutual  slaughters,  there  were  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  neither  internal  nor  external  disturbances  of  peace 
in  the  Empire  of  Japan.  I  take  it  that  you  neither  read  nor 
speak  the  Japanese  language,  and  so  have  only  second-hand 
avenues  into  the  literature  and  history  of  Japan.  So,  in  your 
hasty  tour  through  a  section  of  that  country,  you  could  not  have 
noticed  that  at  the  entrance  of  countless  villages  a  high  flag- 
staff stands,  at  the  base  of  which  is  written:  'Peace  be  to  this 
Village. '  Have  you  ever  compared  the  national  hymn  of  Japan 
with  those  of  the  nations  of  the  West?  For  hymns  to  be  national 
they  must  express  the  deepest  and  strongest  sentiment  of  the 
nation.  If  therefore  Japan  is  a  lover  of  war  it  will  certainly  be 
expressed  in  her  national  hymn.  What  do  we  find?  There  is 
in  it  not  a  shadow  or  suggestion  of  war.  We  of  the  West  have 
to  be  careful  how  we  sing  our  national  hymns  where  representa- 
tives of  different  nations  are  gathered.  But  Japan's  national 
hymn  is  so  absolutely  without  the  war  spirit  that  it  can  be  sung 
anywhere  in  the  world  without  giving  the  slightest  offence." 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      83 

that  the  statesmen  of  Japan  and  also  the  great 
body  of  the  people  very  clearly  realize  that  in  this 
age  of  the  world  peace  is  the  only  road  to  prosper- 
ity for  any  nation. 

Second:  Especially  does  Japan  desire  to  pre- 
serve peaceful  relations  with  America.  I  believe 
there  is  no  nation,  not  even  Great  Britain,  with 
which  she  would  so  much  regret  the  opening  of 
hostilities  as  with  the  United  States.  Even 
looking  at  the  matter  in  the  most  selfish  light 
she  does  not  want  war  with  us,  because  she  knows 
that  she  could  not  possibly  gain  anything  by  it, 
but  would  be  sure  to  lose  much. 

But  she  wants  peace  with  us  from  other  than 
selfish  reasons.  As  already  pointed  out,  ever 
since  the  days  of  Commodore  Perry  (and  I  might 
add,  Mr.  Townsend  Harris,  our  first  permanent 
representative  in  Japan,  who  rendered  service  of 
the  highest  value  to  both  nations  and  won  a  last- 
ing place  in  the  regard  of  the  Japanese  people), 
Japan  has  peculiarly  prized  the  friendship  of  this 
country.  When  I  was  in  Japan  I  had  the  privi- 
lege of  conferring  with  many  leading  men  in  all 
walks  of  life.  Everywhere  the  sentiment  they 
expressed  was  the  same.  All  said  to  me  in  effect : 
"We  highly  honour  and  esteem  your  nation.     Our 


84  RISING  JAPAN 

earnest  desire  is  (and,  so  far  as  the  issue  lies  in 
our  hands,  our  determination  also)  that  there 
shall  be  perpetual  peace  between  us  and  you. 
War  between  us  would  be  a  blunder,  a  calamity, 
a  crime.  It  is  simply  unthinkable."  Even  men 
who  felt  deeply  the  indignities  heaped  upon  their 
countrymen  in  California  said  to  me:  " There 
must  be  no  war;  our  difficulties  must  be  settled 
by  methods  of  peace." 

With  regard  to  this  very  important  matter  of 
the  feeling  in  Japan  toward  this  country,  I  do  not 
wish  readers  to  rely  upon  my  own  statements 
alone.  So  much  that  is  of  serious  import  to  both 
nations  is  involved  in  it,  that  I  deem  it  important 
to  cite  evidences  of  a  character  not  to  be  doubted. 
In  proof  of  the  friendship  of  the  Japanese  people 
for  the  United  States,  and  the  aversion  existing 
in  almost  the  entire  responsible  part  of  the  nation 
to  everything  even  looking  in  the  direction  of  war 
between  the  two  countries,  it  would  be  easy  to 
give  testimonies  sufficient  to  fill  a  volume,  and 
from  the  most  weighty  and  reliable  possible 
sources.  From  the  much  larger  number  of  such 
testimonies  that  lie  before  me  as  I  write,  I  cite 
the  following.  Space  does  not  permit  me  to 
give  more. 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      85 

If  any  Americans  know  the  truth  about  Japan, 
and  especially  about  the  mind,  the  spirit,  and  the 
aims  of  the  men  at  the  head  of  affairs,  surely  it  is 
our  ambassadors.  And  surely  these  responsible 
representatives  of  our  nation  can  have  no  motive 
for  deceiving  us. 

Said  Mr.  George  W.  Guthrie,  our  late  Ambas- 
sador: "  There  is  no  reason  under  the  sun  for  the 
people  of  the  United  States  to  distrust  the  people 
of  Japan;  any  more  than  there  is  for  the  people 
of  Japan  to  distrust  the  United  States." 

Said  Hon.  Luke  Wright,  our  former  Ambassador 
to  Japan,  on  his  return  to  the  United  States: 
''The  talk  of  war  between  this  country  and  Japan 
isn't  even  respectable  nonsense.  Japan  no  more 
wants  war  with  us  than  we  want  war  with  her, 
and  the  idea  that  there  is  an  impending  conflict 
is  ridiculous.,, 

At  a  meeting  of  the  leading  American  residents 
of  all  professions  held  in  the  city  of  Yokohama 
late  in  191 5,  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted 
of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

It  has  come  to  our  knowledge  that  in  sections  of 
the  United  States  rumours  have  been  circulated  to 
the  effect  that  public  sentiment  in  Japan  is  hostile 
to  the  United  States,   and  that  the  Japanese  gov- 


86  RISING  JAPAN 

eminent  entertains  sinister  purposes  of  a  dangerous 
character. 

The  rumours  in  question  are  based  upon  misinfor- 
mation, or,  even  worse,  the  hope  of  selfish  advantage. 
We  believe,  upon  evidence  that  cannot  be  doubted, 
there  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Japanese  Empire  any 
wish  or  thought  other  than  to  maintain  the  most 
friendly  and  cordial  relations  with  the  Republic  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  any  representations  to 
the  contrary,  wherever  emanating,  and  from  whatever 
cause  proceeding,  are  baseless  calumnies. 

If  any  Americans  know  the  Japanese  people, 
all  the  people,  it  is  our  missionaries,  for  their  work 
takes  them  among  all  classes  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest  in  both  city  and  country.  It  is  only  a 
little  while  since  one  hundred  American  mission- 
aries, of  all  aH(  (fcations,  deeply  troubled  by  the 
''irresponsible  utterances  oPa,  section  of  the  Ameri- 
can press,  and  their  slanders  of  J^^y^*  united 
in  sending  a  message  to  the  people  of  this^^fetry, 
denying  the  ''belligerent  attitude"  of  Japan  and 
saying: 

Feeling  bound  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  remove 
misunderstandings  and  suspicions  which  are  tending 
to  interrupt  a  long-standing  friendship  between  our 
two  nations,  we  wish  to  bear  testimony  to  the  sobri- 
ety, sense  of  international  justice,  and  freedom  from 
aggressive  designs  exhibited  by  the  great  majority  of 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      87 

the  Japanese  people  and  to  their  faith  in  the  tradi- 
tional justice  and  equity  of  the  United  States. 

Few  men  in  this  country  know  Japan  better 
than  does  ex-President  Taft,  and  few  have  spoken 
stronger  words  in  deprecation  of  the  miserable 
jingoism  which  so  long  has  been  striving  to  stir 
up  antagonism  between  the  two  nations.  Says 
that  distinguished  and  honoured  American : 

It  would  be  a  crime  against  modern  civilization  if 
Japan  and  America  went  to  war;  and  it  would  be  at 
once  hateful  and  insane.  The  people  of  both  countries 
are  alike  repugnant  to  the  idea  and  the  governments 
of  both  countries  may  be  trusted  to  be  faithful  to  the 
people's  wishes  in  this  serious  matter. 

No  American  has  given  stixm  pfcestimony  as 
to  the  high  character*of*tne  Japanese,  or  spoken 
weightier^^JKds  on  the  importance  of  treating 
Jap^i^Rourably  and  thus  preserving  cordial  re- 
lations between  the  two  nations,  than  ex-President 
Roosevelt.  In  his  annual  message  in  1906  he 
said: 

The  overwhelming  mass  of  our  people  cherish  a 
lively  regard  and  respect  for  the  people  of  Japan,  and 
in  almost  every  quarter  of  the  Union  the  stranger 
from  Japan  is  treated  as  he  deserves.  There  are  no 
first-class  colleges  and  universities  in  the  land,  in- 


88  RISING  JAPAN 

eluding  the  universities  and  colleges  of  California, 
which  do  not  gladly  welcome  Japanese  students  and 
on  which  Japanese  students  do  not  reflect  credit.  I 
ask  fair  treatment  everywhere  in  this  country  for  the 
Japanese  as  I  would  ask  fair  treatment  for  Germans, 
or  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  Russians,  or  Italians. 
I  ask  it  as  due  to  humanity  and  civilization.  Through- 
out Japan  Americans  are  well  treated,  and  any  failure 
on  our  part  here  to  treat  the  Japanese  with  a  like 
courtesy  and  consideration  is  by  just  so  much  a 
confession  of  inferiority  in  our  civilization. 


Some  of  the  most  malignant  attacks  upon  the 
Japanese  people  and  some  of  the  most  ridiculous 
efforts  to  convince  the  American  people  that  Japan 
is  a  menace  to  this  country  have  originated  in 
California.  It  should  also  be  said  to  the  honour 
of  California  that  some  of  the  best  answers  to 
this  malignity,  and  some  of  the  stoutest  defences 
of  the  honour  of  Japan  have  come  from  the  same 
State.  As  an  illustration  of  the  latter  I  will 
quote  briefly  from  an  article  in  the  North  American 
Review,  of  July,  191 7,  written  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Hen- 
shaw,  Associate  Justice  of  the  California  Supreme 
Court.  The  writer  of  this  article  speaks  with  the 
authority  of  one  who  knows,  of  one  on  the  ground, 
who  lives  in  the  very  region  where  the  foolish, 
worked  up,  wicked  prejudice  against  the  Japan- 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      89 

ese  has  been  most  acute,  and  one  who  dares  to  face 
and  expose  the  mischief  makers  that  are  doing 
so  much  to  embroil  us  with  a  great  and  friendly 
nation.     Says  Judge  Henshaw: 

Public  discussion  of  our  present  and  future  relations 
with  Japan  has  been  left  almost  wholly  to  the  dema- 
gogues of  politics  and  to  the  public  press.  Even 
our  government  has  done  nothing  to  disabuse  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  the  ridiculous  fear  of  the 
"menace  of  Japan,"  or  the  "yellow  peril."  When 
it  should  have  spoken  aloud  it  has  remained  silent. 
It  is  little  less  than  criminal  to  allow  this  anti- Japanese 
propaganda  to  go  forward  at  this  time  unanswered 
and  unrebuked.  Its  foundation  is.  ignorance,  its 
superstructure  is  self-serving  falsehood.  Japan  is 
admittedly  one  of  the  world's  great  powers.  She  is 
our  ally  in  a  war  which  is  rocking  civilization  from 
turret  to  foundation  stone.  No  American  can  point 
to  any  wrong,  even  the  slightest,  which  she  has  ever 
done  us  or  threatened  to  do  us.  .  .  .  Side  by  side 
the  United  States  and  Japan  are  striving  to  defeat 
the  menace  of  Germany,  and  they  will  do  so.  Can  it 
be  believed  by  any  mind  above  that  of  an  anthropoid 
ape  that  Japan  has  contemplated,  is  contemplating, 
or  will  contemplate  following  Germany  in  a  like  career, 
and  that,  if  she  does,  she  will  select  for  her  first  victim 
a  nation  many  times  stronger  than  herself  and  at  a 
distance  which  renders  anything  but  a  naval  raid 
against  our  coast  ridiculous  to  contemplate? 

Here  is  the  simple  truth,  and  it  is  time  that  it  be 
publicly  recorded:  We  shall  have  war  with  Japan 


90  RISING  JAPAN 

only  if  we  seek  it.  We  shall  have  war  with  Japan 
only  if  our  course  of  conduct  toward  her  becomes  in- 
tolerable for  a  proud  nation.  We  shall  have  war  with 
Japan  only  if  we  inflict  on  her  insults  and  wrongs 
which  will  force  her  to  do  as  Germany  forced  us  to  do. 
And  further,  let  it  be  recorded  that,  actually,  we  have 
been  doing  this  for  ten  years. 


Within  the  last  half  dozen  years  many  distin- 
guished Americans  have  visited  Japan,  having  it 
for  one  of  their  distinct  objects  to  ascertain  the 
real  feeling  of  that  nation  toward  this  country — 
as  to  whether  it  is  friendly  or  hostile,  whether  it 
wants  war  or  peace.  Among  these  visitors  have 
been  ex-President  Charles  W.  Eliot  of  Harvard 
University,  ex-Chancellor  David  Starr  Jordan  of 
Leland  Stanford  University,  and  Dr.  Hamilton 
Wright  Mabie  of  the  Outlook.  These  men  have 
been  given  the  very  widest  opportunity  to  come 
in  contact  with  the  leading  minds  of  Japan  in  all 
spheres,  intellectual,  political,  educational,  mili- 
tary, industrial,  and  social.  Surely  their  testi- 
monies ought  to  be  more  trustworthy  than  the 
utterances  found  in  our  sensational  papers. 

Dr.  Eliot  tells  us  that  he  found  wherever  he 
went  in  Japan  "an  almost  neighbourly  feeling" 
for  the  United  States, 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      91 

It  is  criminal  [he  declares]  for  politicians,  news- 
papers and  others  to  give  voice  or  lend  ear  to  state- 
ments to  the  contrary.  Japanese  statesmen  are  not 
ordinarily  willing  to  speak  of  even  a  possible  war 
between  their  country  and  the  United  States,  so  very 
absurd  do  they  regard  the  idea  to  be. 

On  returning  from  the  Orient  Dr.  Jordan  bore 
this  testimony: 

I  have  not  found  in  Japan  any  of  the  spirit  of  war 
for  war's  sake,  which  has  been  the  bane  of  European 
politics,  nor  any  desire,  on  the  part  of  people  wise 
and  well  informed,  for  international  aggression  of  any 
sort.  I  have  found  the  average  public  opinion  in 
Japan  on  the  question  of  friendly  relations  among 
nations  quite  as  sane  and  rational  as  in  any  other 
nation  whatever. 

Dr.  Mabie,  on  his  return,  declared: 

A  war  between  this  country  and  Japan  would  be 
fictitiously  created  and  of  great  injustice.  We  think 
and  speak  of  the  Japanese  as  being  an  inferior  people, 
but  Japan  is  more  highly  organized  than  any  country 
in  the  world,  excepting  Germany.  The  Japanese 
people  have  the  same  brains  and  emotions  that  we 
have.  We  have  been  travelling  through  two  different 
channels,  but  we  are  now  met  on  friendly  ground 
after  three  thousand  years.  Japan  wants  to  be  the 
interpreter  of  the  East  to  the  West.  The  keynote 
of  the  Japanese  people,  as  expressed  by  the  Emperor 
himself,   is,    "Seek  knowledge    wherever   it   can  be 


92  RISING  JAPAN 

found  in  the  world."  I  believe  the  Japanese  people 
to  be  as  honest  as  the  people  of  this  country  are. 
Moreover,  they  have  one  of  the  most  desirable  quali- 
ties, chivalry.  All  the  Japanese  want  from  the  people 
of  America  is  justice,  courtesy,  and  imagination  on 
our  part.  All  this  talk  about  a  war  between  us  and 
Japan  is  not  only  nonsense,  it  is  mischievous  nonsense. 

Numerous  and  strong  as  are  the  testimonies  of 
Americans,  those  that  come  to  us  from  Japanese 
are  still  more  numerous  and  not  less  strong. 

Says  Professor  Inazo  Nitobe,  in  his  recent  book, 
The  Japanese  Nation  : 

Japan  is  sufficiently  sane  to  count  the  cost  of  a 
war  with  America.  What  could  we  gain  by  sending 
our  fleet  across  the  Pacific  or  concentrating  our  battle- 
ships in  the  Philippines,  unmindful  that  we  should 
thus  expose  our  back  naked,  as  it  were,  to  China  and 
Russia;  unmindful  of  the  most  important  trade  we 
possess — our  trade  with  America;  unmindful  of  the 
enormous  national  debt  that  we  already  have  and  of 
the  still  greater  financial  strain  which  would  accrue; 
unmindful  of  all  the  cordial  relations  of  the  past? 
Our  statesmen  and  our  people  know  better  than  to 
take  such  a  rash  step. 

Says  the  Japan  Advertiser:  *  *  No  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment could  propose  a  war  with  America  and 
live  a  day." 

Says  the  editor  of  the  Japan  Mail: 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      93 

Before  engaging  in  a  war  with  America  Japan  would 
have  to  divest  herself  of  the  strongest  sentiments  of 
friendship  entertained  by  her  people  toward  any- 
foreign  country. 

Says  Mr.  Tokutomi,  of  Tokyo  (editor  of  Koku- 
min  Shinbun) : 

Japan  has  no  aggressive  intentions  against  America. 
Japan's  large  commerce  with  America  makes  her 
hope  that  America  will  be  prosperous  and  a  good 
customer.  If  Japan  were  to  attack  America  it  would 
react  seriously  on  Japan.  Japan's  only  anxiety  is 
lest  America  may  entertain  aggressive  intentions  to- 
ward this  part  of  the  globe. 

Writes  Captain  Uyeno,  military  attache  of  the 
Japanese  Embassy  in  London : 

Such  a  thing  as  a  war  between  America  and  Japan 
is  impossible.  Such  a  thing  will  never  happen. 
There  is  a  war  element,  if  you  care  to  call  it  that,  in 
all  countries,  but  the  best  element  in  Japan,  as  in  all 
countries,  is  for  peace,  and  Japan  today  entertains 
nothing  but  the  friendliest  feelings  toward  the  United 
States. — The  Outlook,  May  3,  19 13. 

In  the  spring  of  191 3,  when  telegrams  to 
Japan  told  of  the  thirty-four  anti- Japanese  bills 
introduced  into  the  California  Legislature,  and 
when  alleged  (fake)  telegrams  from  Japan  told 
of  mobs  demanding  war  with  America   (though 


94  RISING  JAPAN 

there  were  no  such  mobs),  Count  Okuma  (since 
Premier)  called  a  meeting  of  editors,  educators, 
statesmen,  and  Christian  pastors  to  consider  the 
California  question. 

This  problem  [he  declared]  cannot  be  solved  by 
diplomacy,  nor  by  legislation,  nor  by  war,  least  of  all 
by  the  talk  of  war;  that  is  the  very  worst  thing. 
There  is  only  one  possible  solution.  We  must  appeal 
to  the  Christians  of  America  to  see  that  their  Christian 
principles  of  universal  human  brotherhood  are  enacted 
into  law  and  life. 

That  did  not  look  very  much  like  a  bellicose 
Japan  eager  to  fight  us  at  the  drop  of  the  hat. 

In  an  article  in  the  Outlook  of  December,  1915, 
Baron  Shibusawa,  the  most  influential  financier  in 
Japan,  employed  the  following  strong  words: 

As  for  the  fashionable  talk  about  war  between 
Japan  and  America,  it  is  simply  unthinkable.  Before 
it  can  possibly  come  both  America  and  Japan  must 
turn  into  nations  of  utter  idiots  or  raving  maniacs. 
Such  a  talk  about  war  is  despicable  nonsense.  It  is 
worse:  it  is  criminal,  traitorous  stupidity. 

If  any  utterances  could  possibly  be  authoritative 
in  showing  the  feeling  of  Japan  toward  America 
it  would  be  those  of  the  Commission  of  eminent 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      95 

men  sent  by  the  Japanese  government  to  the 
United  States  to  confer  with  President  Wilson 
and  Secretary  Lansing  in  August,  19 17.  Did 
those  utterances  lack  in  friendship,  or  give  any 
ground  for  suspicion  of  hostility  toward  us  on  the 
part  of  the  Japanese  people?  At  a  dinner  given 
by  the  America- Japan  Society  in  Tokyo  on  the 
eve  of  the  sailing  of  the  Commission  for  our  shores, 
Viscount  Ishii,  the  distinguished  head  of  the 
Commission,  said: 

An  important  part  of  my  mission  will  be  to  convey 
to  the  hundred  millions  of  Americans  the  sympathy 
and  good  will  of  the  seventy  millions  of  Japanese 
people.  The  greatest  war  in  the  annals  of  mankind 
is  now  at  the  climax  of  its  bitterness.  ...  In  spite 
of  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  the  Germans  to  bring 
about  discord  between  Japan  and  the  United  States, 
these  two  countries  are  now  practically  allied  in  mak- 
ing a  common  front  against  this  very  power,  Germany.1 
.  .  .  And  now  that  this  universal  disturber  of  the 
peace  has  completely  and  once  for  all  been  driven  out 
of  her  Asiatic  bases,  there  remains  no  longer  any 
one  who  ventures  to  cherish  the  design  of  estranging 
Japan  from  America. 


1  In  his  various  addresses  in  this  country  Viscount  Ishii  called 
attention  again  and  again  to  the  persistent  and  unscrupulous 
activity  of  Germany  in  plots  and  schemes  to  create  enmity 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States, — an  activity  which  he 
declared  had  been  going  on  for  at  least  ten  years. 


96  RISING  JAPAN 

The  very  first  words  uttered  by  Viscount  Ishii 
on  landing  on  American  soil  were: 


We  come  to  you  at  the  dawning  of  a  new  day. 
Our  message  is  that  in  this  day  your  purpose  is  our 
purpose,  your  goal  our  goal.  Our  message  is  that 
America  and  Japan  will  march  together,  work  together, 
and  fight  together  as  comrades,  until  the  end  has 
been  reached  and  the  victory  won  in  the  struggle 
which  involves  our  common  rights  and  liberties.  We 
are  here  to  say  that  in  this  tremendous  struggle  for 
those  rights  and  liberties  America  and  Japan  are 
bound  together;  and  that  when  the  victory  of  the 
allied  forces  is  secure,  America  and  Japan  should  so 
live  that  your  sons  and  our  sons  shall  have  a  certainty 
of  permanent  neighbourly  and  friendly  relations. 
Our  two  nations  should  so  live  that  no  word  or  deed 
of  either  can  be  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  In  the 
past  we  have  both  been  the  victims  of  venomous 
gossip,  hired  slander,  and  sinister  intrigue.  May  we 
so  live  that  in  the  future  these  can  only  serve  to  bring 
us  closer  together  for  mutual  protection. 

In  the  dawning  of  this  new  day  of  stress  and  strain 
let  us  forget  the  little  molehills  that  have  been  ex- 
aggerated into  mountains  to  bar  our  good  relations. 
Let  us  see  together  with  clearer  vision  the  pitfalls 
dug  by  a  cunning  enemy  in  our  path.  And  when 
victory  shall  have  been  won,  let  us  together  help  in 
the  upbuilding  of  a  new  world,  which  shall  rise,  fair 
and  strong  and  beautiful,  from  the  ashes  of  the  old. 
We  are  allies;  Japan  and  America  have  one  aim — the 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      97 

preservation  of  democracy ;  we  have  one  aspiration — 
the  triumph  of  international  justice. 

When  the  Commission  reached  Washington, 
Viscount  Ishii,  speaking  in  behalf  of  the  Japanese 
Emperor,  addressed  President  Wilson,  employing, 
among  others,  the  following  words : 

The  auspicious  co-operation  of  the  United  States  of 
America  and  Japan  in  the  tremendous  task  of  restor- 
ing the  reign  of  mutual  confidence  and  good  will 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  cannot  but  draw  us 
closer  together.  Our  common  efforts  are  directed 
to  seeking  an  enduring  peace  based  on  respect  for  the 
independence  of  the  weakest  and  smallest  states; 
on  contempt  for  the  arrogance  of  materialistic  force; 
on  reverence  for  the  pledged  word.  In  the  service  of 
these  common  ideals  our  two  countries  must  surely 
realize  a  far  nearer  friendship  than  ever  before. 

From  no  land  could  a  nobler  message  be  brought 
to  the  United  States.  Woe  to  the  men  who  try 
to  kindle  suspicion  and  hate  against  the  nation 
that  brings  it ! 

Third:  Even  if  Japan  desired  to  attack  us,  she 
could  not  do  so  now,  nor  so  long  as  the  present 
war  continues,  for  two  reasons:  first,  because  her 
energies  are  fully  taxed  and  will  continue  to  be 
so  as  long  as  the  struggle  against  Germany  lasts; 
7 


98  RISING  JAPAN 

and  second,  because  attacking  us  would  be  turn- 
ing upon  an  ally,  one  righting  in  the  same  cause 
with  herself.  Of  course  our  worst  Japanophobists 
have  no  fear  of  her  doing  this. 

"But  when  the  war  is  over,"  they  tell  us,  "then 
let  us  look  out!  Then  will  be  her  time  to  strike 
us." 

Does  any  intelligent  person  expect  us  to  believe 
that  a  nation  which  has  been  our  friend  in  all  the 
past  is  going  to  be  made  our  foe  by  comradeship 
with  us  in  a  common  cause,  by  fighting  by  our 
side  in  a  great  struggle  for  the  liberty  of  humanity, 
liberty  in  which  we  are  both  equally  interested? 

Fourth:  In  1902  and  1905  Japan  entered  into 
an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive  with  Great 
Britain,  renewing  the  same  later.  What  did  this 
compact  on  her  part  mean?  It  meant  that  even 
if  she  wanted  to  go  to  war  with  us,  she  could  not 
do  so,  so  long  as  the  alliance  lasted.  Great  Brit- 
ain is  a  nation  kindred  to  our  own.  We  are  asso- 
ciated with  her  by  the  closest  ties  of  blood,  of 
common  language,  of  common  religion,  of  common 
inheritances  and  traditions,  of  common  interests 
of  a  thousand  kinds.  Our  friendship  is  of  the 
greatest  possible  importance  to  her.  She  could 
on  no  condition  permit  her  ally  to  attack  us,  even 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION      99 

if  that  ally  were  insane  enough  to  desire  it.  There- 
fore even  the  most  timid  among  us  may  well  take 
heart,  and  lay  aside  their  alarm  for  a  time.  At 
least  so  long  as  the  alliance  between  Japan  and 
Great  Britain  continues,  which  is  likely  to  be 
many  years,  the  American  people  may  retire  to 
their  beds  at  night  without  apprehension  of  being 
awakened  before  morning  by  the  guns  of  Japanese 
battleships  bombarding  our  cities. 

Fifth:  To  launch  into  a  war  with  a  nation  as 
distant  as  the  United  States,  and  as  powerful, 
with  any  hope  whatever  of  success,  would  of  course 
require  Japan  to  put  forth  her  utmost  strength 
both  by  sea  and  by  land.  She  would  be  obliged 
to  employ  her  whole  navy,  and  send  to  the  far- 
away field  of  conflict  the  largest  army  she  could 
possibly  raise  and  equip. 

But  what  condition  would  that  leave  her  in  at 
home?  Of  course  it  would  leave  her  without  ade- 
quate protection,  and  therefore  in  a  condition  of 
danger  from  both  China  and  Russia,  and  probably 
also  from  Germany. 

China  has  many  grievances  against  Japan, 
some  old,  some  more  recent,  that  she  does  not 
forget.  Could  she  be  trusted  to  practice  the 
extreme  self-denial  of  refraining  from  taking  ad- 


s 


ioo  RISING  JAPAN 

vantage  of  Japan's  unprotected  state  to  seek 
redress? 

Russia,  although  sustaining  friendly  relations 
with  Japan  at  the  present  time,  remembers  bitterly 
her  defeat  in  1905.  We  may  believe  that  she  still 
continues  as  ardently  to  covet  Manchuria,  Korea, 
and  an  ice-free  gateway  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  as 
when  she  fought  with  Japan  for  these  prizes  and 
was  defeated.  Seeing  Japan  inadequately  de- 
fended because  of  the  absence  of  her  military  and 
naval  forces  in  a  distant  part  of  the  world,  could 
she  be  trusted  not  to  reach  our  her  hand  again  to 
seize  these  prizes?  Indeed,  could  she  be  trusted 
not  to  reach  out  her  hand  still  further  in  an  effort 
to  seize  Japan  itself? 

And  Germany,  what  of  her?  She  has  long  had 
ambitions  in  the  Orient,  and  before  the  great  war 
began  had  taken  long  strides  toward  realizing 
those  ambitions.  But  Japan  thwarted  her.  Can 
she  forget  Japan's  action  ?  In  the  event  of  Japan's 
finding  herself  locked  in  a  terrible  struggle  in 
America,  her  army  and  navy  employed  to  the 
utmost  of  their  strength  in  that  distant  struggle, 
could  Germany  be  trusted  not  to  take  advantage 
of  Japan's  comparatively  helpless  condition,  to 
strike  her,  get  revenge  for  Kiao-chau,  and  wrest 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     101 

from  her  foe  a  stronger  foothold  in  the  Orient 
than  she  had  lost? 

The  fact  that  Japan  has  China  and  Russia  as 
close  neighbours,  rivals,  and  always  possible  ene- 
mies, and  that  she  may  count  upon  Germany 
remaining  her  alert  and  vengeful  foe  for  many 
years  to  come,  means  that  her  engaging  in  war 
with  any  strong,  distant  power,  would  jeopardize 
not  only  her  possessions  in  Korea  and  Manchuria, 
but  her  safety  at  home,  and  her  very  life.  Nothing 
less  than  this  would  be  Japan's  peril  if  she  under- 
took the  stupendous  task  of  invading  America, 
as  every  Japanese  statesman  and  military  leader 
well  understands.  Will  she  within  any  discern- 
ible future  dare  to  run  such  a  risk?  Would  any 
nation  in  the  world  that  had  not  gone  stark  mad? 

Sixth:  Commercial  reasons  would ,  deter  Japan 
from  war  with  us,  even  if  there  were  no  other 
considerations. 

As  a  nation  she  is  very  poor,  and  is  burdened 
with  a  very  heavy  debt.  It  is  true  that  since  the 
great  war  in  Europe  began  she  has  had  extra- 
ordinary commercial  and  industrial  prosperity. 
The  temporary  sweeping  of  German  commerce 
from  the  sea  and  the  requisition  of  a  large  part  of 
the  mercantile  shipping  of  England  for  war  uses 


102  RISING  JAPAN 

have  thrown  into  her  hands,  for  the  time  being, 
an  unusually  large,  indeed  an  enormously  large, 
ocean  carrying  trade;  very  great  demands  have 
also  been  made  upon  her  for  the  manufacture  of 
munitions  and  army  supplies,  particularly  for 
Russia.  From  both  these  sources  she  is  reaping 
large  monetary  returns.  This  gives  her  a  degree 
of  immediate  financial  prosperity  greater  than 
perhaps  she  has  ever  known.  Nevertheless,  it 
remains  true  that  her  wealth  and  her  resources  for 
the  production  of  wealth,  aside  from  her  manu- 
factures and  commerce,  are  very  limited.  Of 
course  this  means  that  in  order  to  lift  herself  out 
of  her  poverty  it  is  imperative  for  her  to  develop 
to  the  utmost  both  her  manufacturing  industries 
and  her  foreign  trade. 

For  sea-borne  commerce  no  country  in  the  world 
is  better  located.  As  for  manufacturing,  she  has 
the  advantage  of  possessing  a  large  population 
and  therefore  plenty  of  labour,  and  also  abundant 
water-power  which  can  easily  be  converted  into 
electrical  power.  But  she  has  the  disadvantage 
of  possessing  only  a  few  of  the  raw  materials 
needed  for  manufactures.  She  has  practically 
no  iron  mines,  and  therefore  must  import  her 
iron   and   steel.     She  is   also   largely   dependent 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     103 

upon  other  countries  for  such  indispensable  staples 
as  cotton,  wool,  and  hides.  Her  agricultural 
possibilities  are  very  limited.  With  an  area  smaller 
than  the  single  State  of  Texas,  her  surface  is  so 
mountainous  that  only  one  fourteenth  of  her  soil 
is  arable,  and  from  that  small  fraction,  and  from 
the  fish  of  the  surrounding  seas,  her  between  fifty 
and  sixty  millions  of  people  must  be  fed. 

From  all  this  it  is  easily  seen  that  her  trade  with 
other  countries — to  obtain  raw  materials  for  her 
manufactures  and  to  convey  her  manufactured 
goods  to  the  markets  of  the  world — is  simply 
vital  to  her.  Without  it  she  cannot  possibly  rise 
out  of  her  poverty,  pay  her  crushing  debt,  and 
maintain  her  place  among  the  nations. 

But  a  war  with  America  would  destroy  her 
commerce,  and  therefore  largely  her  manufac- 
tures. In  the  first  place,  the  United  States  is  by 
far  the  most  important  of  her  customers.  To  lose 
our  trade  alone  would  be  a  staggering  blow  to  her. 
But  she  would  not  only  lose  our  trade — practically 
her  whole  commerce  would  be  swept  from  the 
sea.  If  we  could  not  destroy  it  in  any  other  way 
we  would  build  a  thousand  submarines,  or  five 
thousand,  if  necessary,  and  in  addition  to  these 
an  aerial  fleet  of  any  magnitude  required,  and  a 


104  RISING  JAPAN 

navy  as  great  as  the  need.  Of  course  our  wealth 
and  our  unlimited  resources  give  us  possibilities 
in  these  directions  that  she  could  not  overcome. 
This  she  well  understands.  So  that  this  matter 
alone — the  certainty  of  the  ruin  of  her  commerce 
and  the  bankruptcy  of  the  nation  that  it  would 
cause — is  a  sufficient  guaranty  that  she  will  never 
engage  in  war  with  this  country  if  she  can  honour- 
ably avoid  it,  and  certainly  that  she  will  never 
indulge  in  the  wild  dream  of  bringing  on  a  war 
by  wantonly  invading  our  shores. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION  OF  AMERICA 

(Concluded) 
Is  such  an  Invasion  Probable  ?    Is  it  Possible  ? 

SEVENTH:  If  Japan  desired  to  invade  our 
shores,  how  could  she  reach  us?  We  have  a  navy 
which,  to  say  the  least,  is  very  much  stronger  than 
hers,  and  which  since  the  opening  of  the  Panama 
Canal  is  all  available  for  use  on  the  Pacific.  This 
navy,  of  course,  Japan  would  have  to  meet  and 
destroy  before  she  could  invade  us,  indeed  before 
she  would  dare  to  embark  a  single  soldier.  Could 
she  do  it? 

Just  how  strong  is  her  navy,  and  how  does  it 
compare  with  our  own? 

Much  effort  has  been  made  by  military  alarmists, 
by  enemies  of  Japan,  and  others,  to  create  the 
impression  throughout  the  country  that  Japan's 
navy  is  much  larger  and  more  powerful  than  it  is, 
and  that  ours  is  much  smaller  and  weaker  than  it 

105 


106  RISING  JAPAN 

is.  The  object  in  view  has  been  to  create  fear  of 
Japan  and  thus  secure  larger  naval  appropriations. 
I  have  nowhere  else  seen  the  exact  facts  and 
figures  as  to  the  relative  size  and  effectiveness  of 
the  two  fleets  set  forth  in  a  manner  so  compre- 
hensive, so  concise,  and  so  lucid,  as  by  Mr.  K.  K. 
Kawakami,  in  the  Chicago  Unity  of  May  4,  191 6, 
and  in  the  North  American  Review  of  the  same 
month.1  I  am  sure  I  cannot  do  better  than  to 
quote  his  statement  at  some  length.  If  any  readers 
do  not  care  for  so  many  details  they  can  easily 
pass  them  by.  But  the  subject  is  so  important, 
and  there  is  so  much  lack  of  information  concern- 
ing it  in  the  public  mind,  and  so  much  positive 
misinformation,  that  I  think  many  will  be  glad 
to  have  placed  before  them  the  full  facts  and 
figures  as  given  by  Mr.  Kawakami.  Says  this 
high  authority: 

At  present  Japan's  fleet  consists  of  6  dreadnoughts 
including  2  now  under  construction,  4  battle-cruisers, 
13  battleships  of  the  pre-dreadnought  type,  4  cruisers, 
50  destroyers,  and  17  submarines.  All  told,  Japan's 
warships  aggregate  560,484  tons. 

As  against  this  strength,  America  has  a  fleet  total- 
ling 1,271,117  tons,  that  is,  710,633  tons  more  than  the 

1  Mr.  Kawakami  is  the  author  of  American- Japanese  Relations 
and  Asia  at  the  Door. 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     107 

Japanese  squadron.  To  enter  into  details,  the  Ameri- 
can navy,  as  it  stands  today,  consists  of  19  dread- 
noughts (including  two  now  under  construction  and 
known  as  No.  43  and  No.  44),  23  battleships  of  the 
pre-dreadnought  type,  10  cruisers,  63  destroyers,  51 
submarines,  and  22  colliers. 

The  face  of  these  figures  shows  that  the  Japanese 
navy  has  about  one-half  the  strength  of  the  American 
navy.  But  when  we  study  the  nature  of  the  ships 
on  both  sides  the  inferiority  of  the  Japanese  fleet 
becomes  all  the  more  obvious. 

In  the  first  place,  the  American  dreadnoughts  are 
much  larger  than  the  Japanese.  Of  the  American 
fleet,  the  7  largest  dreadnoughts  have  each  a  dis- 
placement of  32,600  tons,  while  the  4  largest  Japan- 
ese dreadnoughts  are  of  a  displacement  of  30,600 
tons  each.  Again,  as  against  6  American  dread- 
noughts of  27,500  tons  each,  Japan  has  only  4 
battle-cruisers  of  the  same  size.  The  remaining  2 
dreadnoughts  of  Japan  are  of  a  displacement  of  20,800 
tons  each,  whereas  the  United  States  has  2  dread- 
noughts of  27,343  tons  each,  2  others  of  21,825  tons 
each,  2  others  of  20,000  tons  each,  and  still  2  others 
of  16,000  tons  each. 

In  the  second  place  the  American  dreadnoughts  are 
equipped  with  larger  numbers  of  more  powerful  guns 
than  are  the  Japanese.  Of  19  American  dreadnoughts, 
7  are  equipped  with  twelve  14-inch  guns,  4  with  ten 
14-inch  guns,  2  with  twelve  12 -inch  guns,  4  with 
ten  1 2 -inch  guns,  2  with  eight  12 -inch  guns.  On  the 
Japanese  side,  there  is  not  a  single  dreadnought 
equipped  with  so  many  as  twelve  14-inch  guns.  To 
be  more  accurate,   of  6   Japanese   dreadnoughts,  4 


108  RISING  JAPAN 

have  only  ten  14-inch  guns,  while  2  are  equipped  with 
twelve  12-inch  guns.  The  Japanese  battle-cruisers, 
4  in  all,  have  each  only  eight  14-inch  guns. 

In  the  third  place,  Japan  has  1 3  battleships  of  the 
pre-dreadnought  type  totalling  193,666  tons,  while  the 
United  States  has  23  with  a  total  displacement  of 
314,906  tons.  Here  it  is  important  to  note  that  only 
2  of  the  13  Japanese  battleships  are  fit  to  stand  on 
the  first  line  of  battle,  as  against  six  of  America's. 

In  the  fourth  place,  America  has  62  destroyers  as 
against  Japan's  50.  On  the  face  of  these  figures  the 
differences  do  not  seem  very  great,  but  we  must  re- 
member that  most  American  destroyers  are  over  800 
tons,  and  therefore  sea-going,  while  the  Japanese 
navy  has  only  6  destroyers  above  800  tons.  Most 
Japanese  destroyers  are  not  sea-going,  but  are  for 
coast  defence.  Thus  62  American  destroyers  have 
a  total  tonnage  of  73,097,  while  fifty  Japanese 
destroyers  aggregate  only  36,118  tons. 

In  the  fifth  place,  Japan  has  only  17  submarines 
as  against  America's  51.  Here,  too,  most  American 
submarines  are  of  a  large  type  and  sea-going,  while 
Japan's  are  not. 

In  the  sixth  place,  the  American  navy  has  22  colliers 
aggregating  236,401  tons,  while  Japan  has  none.  In 
a  naval  expedition  to  distant  waters  the  collier  is  as 
important  as  the  fighting  craft.  The  reason  the  Jap- 
anese navy  is  without  colliers  is  that  it  is  primarily 
intended  to  protect  Chinese  and  Japanese  waters  which 
are  within  easy  reach  of  its  base  of  operation.1 

x  Not  only  is  the  Japanese  navy  unprovided  with  colliers; 
it  should  also  be  added  that  Japan  possesses  not  a  single  coaling 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     109 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  relative  naval  strength  of  Japan 
and  the  United  States.  Thus  it  is  evident  that  the 
American  navy  is  almost  three  times  as  powerful  as  the 
Japanese  navy. 

Mr.  Kawakami's  figures  were  compiled  early 
in  1 91 6,  but  in  most  particulars  they  apply  per- 
fectly to  present  conditions.  Japan's  navy  has 
changed  a  little  in  the  direction  of  increased  effi- 
ciency. Ours  has  changed  more,  and  in  the  same 
direction.  So  that  the  relative  superiority  of  the 
American  fleet  is  even  greater  today  than  twenty 
months  ago. 

Mr.  Jiuji  G.  Kasai,  author  of  The  Mastery  of 
the  Pacific,  has  given -us  in  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  (April  1,  1 91 6),  a  careful  statement  of  the 
comparative  strength  of  the  navies  of  Japan  and 
the  United  States.  The  ground  covered  is  essen- 
tially the  same  as  that  of  Mr.  Kawakami  and  the 
conclusions  reached  almost  identical.  However, 
as  his  facts  and  figures  are  given  in  a  somewhat 
different  order  and  are  grouped  somewhat  differ- 
ently, it  will  enable  readers  to  see  the  relative  size 
and  effectiveness  of  the  two  fleets  a  little  more 

station  in  or  near  the  route  to  America,  or  anywhere  near  the 
American  coast.  These  two  facts  alone  make  the  transportation 
of  a  great  army  to  this  country,  together  with  its  convoying 
battle  fleet,  an  utter  impossibility. 


no  RISING  JAPAN 

clearly  if  I  give  a  part  of  his  statement.      Says 
Mr.  Kasai: 

During  the  decade  from  1906  to  191 5  the  United 
States  appropriated  $1,288,403,099  for  the  upbuild- 
ing and  maintenance  of  its  navy,  as  against  Japan's 
appropriation  of  $379,408,324;  that  is,  the  United 
States  expended  about  four  times  as  much  as  did 
Japan — with  this  stupendous  sum  creating  for  itself 
a  fighting  fleet  second  to  none  except  that  of  Great 
Britain. 

The  American  navy  has  14  dreadnoughts  already 
completed  and  5  dreadnoughts  under  construction, 
namely,  the  California,  Mississippi,  and  Idaho,  No. 
43  and  No.  44,  the  last  two  incorporating  valuable 
lessons  learned  in  the  present  war.  The  19  battle- 
ships of  the  first  line  will  have  a  total  displacement 
of  507,636  tons.  Besides,  she  has  23  battleships  of 
the  second  line  (314,906  tons),  10  armoured  cruisers 
(140,080  tons),  25  cruisers  (126,330  tons),  62  de- 
stroyers (73,097  tons),  and  51  submarines. 

In  comparison  with  this  mighty  American  navy, 
Japan  has  3  dreadnoughts — Fuso,  Kawachi,  Settsu 
— and  4  battle-cruisers  of  the  Kongo  class,  making  a 
total  of  7  battleships  of  the  first  line.  In  addition  she 
is  now  building  three  dreadnoughts  of  the  Fuso 
class,  which  will  be  completed  by  191 8,  thus  making 
a  total  of  10  battleships  of  the  first  line,  aggregating 
274,000  tons.  Besides,  she  has  n  battleships  of  the 
second  line  (179,100  tons),  4  armoured  cruisers  (56,- 
750  tons),  21  cruisers  (133,531  tons),  50  destroyers 
(36,116  tons),  and  17  submarines.     This  comparison 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     in 

of  the  two  navies  shows  plainly  that  the  number  and 
tonnage  of  the  American  battleships  are  double  those 
of  the  Japanese  navy. 

But  when  we  compare  the  fighting  ships  of  the  two 
navies  and  their  equipments,  the  preponderance  of 
the  United  States  navy  is  very  marked.  When  the 
keel  of  the  Fuso  was  laid  in  191 1  she  was  the  most 
powerful  dreadnought  ever  designed  by  any  navy; 
but  today  she  is  far  outranked  by  the  California  class 
of  the  American  navy.  All  of  the  American  dread- 
noughts built  after  the  Pennsylvania  are  driven  by  oil 
and  electricity,  while  the  Fuso  class  is  driven  by  coal 
power,  which  is  much  inferior. 

As  to  the  23  battleships  of  the  American  second 
line,  all  of  them  but  three  have  been  completed  since 
1904,  while  of  Japan's  13,  nine  were  built  before  1900, 
and  four  were  Russian  warships  captured  at  Port 
Arthur. 

While  the  United  States  has  10  fast  armoured 
cruisers  of  over  13,500  tons,  Japan  has  but  4.  The 
United  States  has  22  fuel  ships,  totalling  236,401  tons, 
among  which  the  Jupiter  and  the  Jason  are  of  nearly 
200,000  tons,  while  Japan  has  no  colliers  at  all. 

The  fighting  strength  of  a  modern  navy  is  largely 
determined  by  the  gun  power  of  the  main  batteries 
of  its  battleship  fleet.  At  present  the  United  States 
navy  has  sixty-four  14-inch  guns,  thirty-two  13-inch 
guns,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  12 -inch  guns, 
as  against  the  Japanese  navy  of  thirty-eight  14-inch 
guns  and  seventy-two  12-inch  guns.  When  the  five 
dreadnoughts  now  under  construction  are  added  to 
the  fleet,  by  191 8,  the  American  navy  will  possess  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four   14-inch  guns,   as  against 


ii2  RISING  JAPAN 

Japan's  seventy-four  14-inch  guns.  These  data 
show  conclusively  that  the  American  navy  has  more 
than  twice  the  fighting  strength  of  the  Japanese  navy. 

Here  then  we  have  the  exact  situation  so  far 
as  navies  are  concerned.  The  first  task  Japan 
would  have  to  perform  in  order  to  invade  this 
country  would  be  that  of  meeting  and  overcoming 
a  fleet  which  conservatively  estimated  is  between 
two  and  three  times  as  strong  as  her  own.  Readers 
may  judge  how  easy  that  task  would  be. * 

1  Assertions  have  been  made  in  some  quarters  and  widely 
circulated,  that  whatever  may  be  the  comparative  naval  strength 
of  the  two  nations  now,  Japan  is  building  warships  faster  than 
we  are,  and  is  planning  far  greater  increases  in  the  future.  Mr. 
Kawakami  shows  that  the  exact  opposite  is  true.  On  this 
subject  he  gives  the  following  facts  and  figures: 

"Japan  has  never  been  building  warships  on  so  extensive  a 
scale  as  America.  As  early  as  October  19,  1903,  the  United 
States  adopted  a  naval  program  in  pursuance  of  which  she 
was  to  build  34  battleships  before  1920.  By  1907  the  American 
navy  was  twice  as  powerful  as  the  Japanese  and  by  19 10  it  had 
become  almost  three  times  as  powerful  as  the  Japanese  navy, 
because  in  the  preceding  two  years  the  United  States  launched 
6  dreadnoughts  while  Japan  launched  only  3. 

"In  Europe,  Germany  adopted  a  naval-repletion  program 
in  1907,  Russia  in  191 1,  France  in  19 12,  Italy  in  19 10,  and  Austria 
in  1 9 12.  In  the  meantime  Japan  had  no  definite  naval  pro- 
gram to  follow,  and  was  lagging  behind  the  Western  Powers 
in  the  matter  of  naval  preparation.  When  at  last  she  followed 
the  example  of  Europe  and  America  and  adopted  a  plan  it  was 
only  on  a  very  small  scale. 

"This  new  Japanese  program  calls  for  the  construction,  in 
the  five  years  from  19 17  to  192 1,  of  4  dreadnoughts,  6  cruisers, 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION    113 

Eighth:  Even  if  Japan  had  been  able  to  sink 
our  whole  navy,  how  could  she  provide  trans- 
portation across  the  broadest  ocean  in  the  world, 
a  distance  of  fifty-seven  hundred  miles,  for  the 
army  that  would  be  necessary?  Has  she  the 
shipping? 

10  destroyers,  and  9  submarines.  This  requires  an  expenditure 
of  $95,000,000  in  five  yearly  installments. 

'Compare  this  with  the  great  naval  program  recommended 
by  Secretary  Daniels,  and  we  see  how  modest  the  Japanese  plan 
is.  The  American  program  calls  for  the  building  of  10  battle- 
ships, 6  battle-cruisers,  10  scout  cruisers,  50  destroyers,  15  sea- 
going submarines,  85  coast  defense  submarines,  4  gunboats,  1 
hospital  ship,  2  ammunition  ships,  2  fuel  oil  ships,  and  1  repair 
ship.  This  entails  an  expenditure  of  $442,964,087  in  the  five 
years  from  191 7  to  192 1,  that  is  to  say,  four  times  the  sum  re- 
quired by  the  Japanese  plan. 

"Presuming  that  both  the  Japanese  and  American  programs 
were  carried  out  as  they  have  been  formulated,  the  relative 
strength  of  the  navies  of  the  two  countries  at  the  end  of  1921 
will  be  as  follows: 

"The  Japanese  navy — 8  dreadnoughts,  4  battle-cruisers,  15 
battleships,  of  the  pre-dreadnought  type,  10  cruisers,  60  des- 
troyers, 27  submarines. 

"The  American  navy — 27  dreadnoughts,  6  battle-cruisers, 
25  battleships  of  the  pre-dreadnought  type,  20  cruisers,  112 
destroyers,  151  submarines,  24  colliers. 

"A  glance  at  the  above  tables  reveals  that  the  American 
armada  will  be  about  three  times  as  powerful  as  the  Japanese 
squadron.  But  the  figures  are  misleading.  When  we  consider 
that  the  American  ships  are  equipped  with  a  larger  number  of 
more  powerful  guns  than  are  the  Japanese  vessels,  that  most  of 
the  American  destroyers  and  submarines  are  sea-going,  that  the 
American  navy  is  better  supplied  with  fuel  ships  and  other 
auxiliary  ships — when  we  consider  all  these  conditions  it  would 


H4  RISING  JAPAN 

Our  jingoes  (even  some  of  our  Congressmen) 
have  talked  about  her  attacking  us  with  two 
hundred  thousand,  three  hundred  thousand,  five 
hundred  thousand  men.  How  could  she  get  them 
over  here,  together  with  the  mountains  on  moun- 
tains  of   munitions   which    a   great   war   would 

seem  that  the  American  navy  would  have  almost  four  times  the 
strength  of  the  Japanese  navy  by  the  end  of  1921." 

Neither  the  figures  of  Mr.  Kawakami  nor  those  of  Mr.  Kasai 
tell  the  whole  story  as  to  the  enormous  augmentation  of  our  naval 
appropriations  and  our  navy's  immense  increase  of  strength 
during  the  past  year.  Said  Secretary  Daniels  in  an  address  at 
the  Naval  Academy  in  Annapolis  on  September  14,  191 7:  "Since 
the  first  of  August,  191 6,  Congress  has  appropriated  for  the 
support  and  increase  of  the  navy  $1,344,184,896,  while  estimates 
now  pending  carry  an  addition  of  nearly  six  hundred  millions. 
Thus  the  aggregate  appropriation  for  naval  purposes  in  a  little 
more  than  a  year,  including  pending  estimates,  is  nearly  $2,000,- 
000,000.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  increase  in  personnel  in  the  past 
few  months  has  far  surpassed  the  increase  in  material.  We  have 
three  times  as  many  ships  in  commission  today  as  we  had  six 
months  ago. " 

On  October  6,  191 7,  the  Government  Committee  on  Public 
Information  issued  to  the  nation  a  statement  saying:  "The 
navy  now  has  in  service  more  than  three  times  as  many  men  and 
nearly  three  times  as  many  vessels  as  when  war  was  declared. 
The  navy  and  Marine  Corps  constitute  a  force  of  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  million  men.  The  Atlantic  fleet  comprises  twice  as 
many  vessels  as  in  peace  times. 

"The  largest  ship  construction  program  in  history  is  being 
carried  out  by  the  navy,  comprising  hundreds  of  vessels  of 
various  types  from  super-dreadnoughts  to  submarine  chasers. 

"The  Shipping  Board  has  under  construction  and  contempla- 
tion a  total  tonnage  of  nearly  11,000,000  deadweight  capacity, 
requiring  a  total  authorization  of  about  $1,799,000,000." 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     115 

require?  Of  course  they  would  have  to  be 
brought  in  mass,  for  if  brought  in  detachments 
these  could  easily  be  overcome  before  or  after 
landing.  Only  a  large  army  could  hope  to  be  able 
to  disembark  in  safety  and  take  secure  possession 
of  the  country.  How  large  an  army  can  Japan 
transport  across  the  Pacific?     Let  us  see. 

It  happens  that  several  times  within  the  past 
few  years  the  question  has  become  acute  in 
England,  Can  Germany  invade  Great  Britain? 
and  if  so,  with  how  many  men?  In  order  to 
answer  these  questions  it  was  necessary  for  a 
careful  inquiry  to  be  made  by  the  highest  naval 
and  military  experts  as  to  the  adequacy  of  Ger- 
many's shipping,  that  is,  as  to  the  number  of 
troops  it  would  be  possible  for  her  to  transport  at 
one  time  across  the  North  Sea.  The  results  have 
been  published  and  may  be  obtained  by  any  one 
caring  to  take  the  trouble.  Colonel  H.  B.  Hanna 
in  his  book,  Can  Germany  Invade  England?  gives 
the  facts  and  figures  with  considerable  fulness. 

Germany  possesses  (or  did  possess  before  her 
war  with  Great  Britain)  the  second  largest 
merchant  marine  in  the  world — more  than  double 
the  size  of  that  of  Japan.  In  answer  to  the  claim 
that  Germany  could  land  in  England  six  army 


u6  RISING  JAPAN 

corps  (246,000  men)  Colonel  Hanna  says:  "Ger- 
many has  not  sufficient  shipping  to  convey  246,000 
men,  with  all  their  impedimenta,  and  all  their  guns 
and  horses  and  military  carriage  across  the  North 
Sea.  "x  This  judgment  of  Colonel  Hanna  is  sup- 
ported by  the  highest  naval  authorities  of  Great 
Britain. 

In  the  British  Blue  Book  of  1904  we  are  given 
the  opinion  of  Major- General  Sir  John  Ardagh, 
Director  of  Military  Intelligence  from  1 896-1 901, 
to  the  effect  that  150,000  men  is  the  largest  force 
that  either  Germany  or  France  can  possibly  trans- 
port across  the  North  Sea  at  one  time  "from  all 
its  ports  and  with  long  preparation." 

Still  further.  Admiral  Sir  Vesey  Hamilton 
ridicules  the  idea  that  Germany  can  convey  even 
one  hundred  thousand  men  across  the  North  Sea, 
with  all  her  shipping.2 

In  1908  Lord  Roberts  made  what  is  known  as 
his  famous  "German  scare  speech,"  in  which  he 
claimed  that  Germany  possessed  suitable  vessels 
sufficient  to  convey  to  England  for  invasion 
purposes  two  hundred  thousand  troops,  giving 
the  shipping  figures  on  which  he  based  his  claim. 
At  once  the  naval  critics  took  him  up  and  showed 

1  Hanna,  p.  134.  2  Ibid.,  p.  48. 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     117 

that  he  had  made  the  number  just  twice  too  large, 
because  he  had  allowed  only  half  the  space 
necessary  per  man  on  the  transports.  So  that  all 
he  really  claimed,  when  his  estimate  of  space  was 
corrected,  was  that  it  would  be  possible  for 
Germany  to  find  sufficient  shipping  to  convey  to 
England  an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men, 
plus  adequate  munitions. s 

Under  date  of  November  19,  1910,  the  British 
Admiralty,  the  highest  naval  authority  in  Europe, 
published  a  Memorandum  on  "England's  Danger 
of  Invasion,"  in  which  it  declared  that  in  its 
judgment  the  invasion  of  England  by  Germany, 
"even  on  the  scale  of  seventy  thousand  men,  is 
practically  impossible." 

So  much  for  Germany.  How  about  Great 
Britain?  Great  Britain  has  a  merchant  marine 
(or  had  previous  to  191 6)  by  far  the  largest  in 
existence — much  more  than  four  times  as  great  as 
Japan's.  Yet  Colonel  G.  A.  Furse,  in  his  Military 
Expeditions  beyond  the  Sea,  tells  us  that  provision 
for  suitable  ships  to  transport  even  fifty-four 
thousand  troops  in  one  expedition,  with  the  re- 
quisite artillery,  ammunition,  and  other  neces- 
sary impedimenta,  would  "tax  all  the  energies  of 

1  Hanna,  p.  41. 


n8  RISING  JAPAN 

the  Transport  Department  of  the  British  Ad- 
miralty."1 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  such  testimonials  as  these 
from  the  highest  military  and  naval  authorities 
in  the  world,  we  are  glibly  told  that  Japan, 
possessing  a  merchant  marine  which  is  only  a 
fraction  of  that  of  either  Germany  or  England, 
can  suddenly,  at  any  time  she  sees  fit,  leap  across, 
not  the  little  North  Sea  but  the  vast  Pacific,  and 
drop  on  our  shores  a  great  and  fully  munitioned 
army  of  a  quarter  or  half  million  men. 

How  large  an  army  would  it  really  be  possible 
for  Japan  to  transport  to  America  if  she  should 
requisition  every  ship  in  the  empire  capable  of 
making  a  transoceanic  voyage? 

Mr.  Richard  Barry  has  given  us  in  the  New  York 
Times  (July  2,  191 6)  the  estimates  made  by  an 
American  naval  attache  at  Tokyo  (whose  name 
he  withholds)  and  Mr.  Takuma  Kuroda,  whose 
large  acquaintance  with  Japanese  political,  mili- 
tary, and  naval  affairs  gives  his  judgment  peculiar 
weight.  The  estimates  arrived  at  by  the  two,  one 
approaching  the  question  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  American  naval  expert  and  the  other  from 
that  of  the  Japanese  public  man  with  unusual 

1  Vol.  i.,  pp.  207-209. 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     119 

knowledge  of  the  subject,  essentially  agreed. 
The  conclusion  reached  by  both  was,  that  ''Japan 
with  the  use  of  all  her  available  ships  might  per- 
haps be  able  to  bring  over  to  America  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  men,  certainly  not  more." 

How  different  are  the  figures  of  men  who  have 
knowledge,  from  those  of  men  whose  only  qualifi- 
cations for  speaking  is  their  ignorance! 

For  the  sake  of  getting  a  view  from  all  sides,  let 
us  suppose  Japan  able  to  find  shipping  sufficient 
to  dispatch  from  her  shores  even  one  hundred 
thousand  men  (three  and  one-third  times  larger 
than  these  experts  deem  possible — and  larger  than 
even  Germany  or  England  in  their  full  marine 
strength  could  find  transportation  for  at  one  time) 
— what  then?  Such  a  mass  of  troop  ships  and 
ammunition  ships,  together  with  its  convoying 
naval  fleet,  would  form  an  armada  greater  than 
ever  sailed  any  sea.  How  could  such  a  vast 
collection,  such  an  enormous  and  unwieldy  con- 
glomeration of  vessels,  of  every  size  and  type,  and 
of  different  rates  of  speed,  be  kept  together  on 
such  a  voyage?  How  could  it  be  supplied  with 
coal,  since  Japan  has  no  colliers?  What  captain 
or  admiral  would  dare  to  take  command  of  it? 
What  would  become  of  it  in  case  of  a  storm? 


120  RISING  JAPAN 

Even  if  the  main  American  navy  had  been  sunk, 
not  all  of  our  submarines  would  be  likely  to  have 
been  destroyed.  What  would  become  of  this 
stupendous,  unmanageable  egg-shell  flotilla,  laden 
with  human  beings,  if  attacked  by  a  dozen  or  fifty 
submarines?  And  what  could  save  it  if  it  were 
attacked,  as  it  would  be,  by  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  armed  and  bomb-bearing  airships, 
dropping  upon  it  destruction  from  the  skies? 
And  finally,  even  if  a  miracle  took  place,  and  all 
the  ships,  or  half  of  them,  or  a  quarter,  reached  the 
American  coast,  how  could  they  be  able  to  go 
through  the  long,  slow,  difficult,  and  hazardous 
process  of  landing,  in  face  of  the  forts  and  garri- 
sons, and  troops,  and  aeroplanes  and  submarines, 
and  mines  with  which  they  would  be  confronted?1 
Ninth:    If  miracles  on  miracles  happened,  and 

1  Says  Mr.  Jiuji  G.  Kasai,  author  of  The  Mastery  of  the  Pacific: 
"Suppose  the  Japanese  fleet  of  Japan  were  able  to  overcome  or 
successfully  to  evade  the  greatly  superior  American  fleet,  and 
reach  the  American  coast,  where  could  it  land?  The  Golden 
Gate  is  well  protected  with  mighty  fortresses  and  with  Mare 
Island  navy  yard  in  its  vicinity,  equipped  with  large  docks  and 
arsenals;  Astoria,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  is  pro- 
tected by  mines  and  coast  defences ;  the  Juan  de  Fuca  Strait  and 
Puget  Sound  are  strongly  fortified,  backed  by  the  great  naval 
base  at  Bremerton;  while  the  entire  coast  is  defended  with  the 
mobile  artillery  of  recent  invention-.  Under  such  a  state  of  pre- 
paredness, how  could  the  enemy  land  upon  American  territory?" 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     121 

if  Japan  succeeded  in  landing  an  army  of  one 
hundred  thousand  men,  and  then  if  later  she  were 
able  to  double  and  treble  and  quadruple  the 
number,  what  could  she  accomplish?  Doubtless 
she  could  seize  some  territory,  and  if  she  so  desired 
she  could  destroy  considerable  property.  But 
how  would  that  help  her?  Even  if  she  were  able 
to  gain  temporary  possession  of  our  entire  Pacific 
Coast,  it  would  avail  her  nothing  so  far  as  conquer- 
ing the  nation  was  concerned.  It  would  simply 
entail  upon  her  a  stupendous  expense  in  men  and 
money,  to  no  purpose  and  with  no  return. 
Says  Professor  Roland  G.  Usher : 

The  strategical  and  geographical  conditions  of  this 
country  are  such  that  a  foreign  army  landing  on  our 
shores  would  occupy  the  ground  it  stood  on  and  no 
more.  The  British  discovered  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  that  the  occupation  of  New  York,  Boston  and 
Philadelphia  put  them  no  nearer  the  military  pos- 
session of  the  continent  than  they  were  before,  and 
that  marching  through  provinces  was  not  subduing 
them.1 

In  the  present  war  in  Europe,  Germany  very 
early  conquered  a  larger  proportion  of  France  than 
the  whole  Pacific  Coast  would  be  of  the  United 
States;  but  did  that  mean  the  subjugation  of  the 

1  Pan-Germanism,  pp.  140-141. 


122  RISING  JAPAN 

French  nation?  In  19 15  Great  Britain  gained 
possession  of  an  important  section  of  the  Gallipoli 
peninsula,  and  held  it  for  several  months;  but  she 
was  finally  compelled  to  abandon  it  with  terrible 
losses.  Napoleon  in  the  height  of  his  power 
seized  Moscow,  but  it  was  his  ruin. 

The  capture  of  San  Francisco  or  Seattle  or  Los 
Angeles  would  prove  the  ruin  of  any  invading 
army;  it  would  arouse  a  nation,  a  hundred  million 
strong,  and  fill  them  with  a  determination  as 
relentless  as  death  to  drive  the  invader  into  the 
sea — an  end  which  nothing  could  prevent. 

The  Pacific  Coast  is  not  the  United  States,  but 
only  a  fringe  on  our  western  border.  Even  if 
Japan  were  able  to  seize  it,  the  real  nation,  on  the 
other  side  of  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  mountains 
and  barren  plains,  would  be  beyond  her  possible 
reach.  Thus  she  would  be  simply  held  at  bay, 
able  to  make  no  advance,  piling  up  ruinous 
expenses,  and  all  the  while  accomplishing  nothing; 
while  the  real  United  States,  untouched  as  yet, 
but  roused  to  a  white  heat  of  passionate  deter- 
mination to  drive  out  the  invader,  would  gather 
and  train  her  forces,  and  put  in  order  her  trans- 
continental railways,  by  means  of  which  in  due 
time  she  would  pour  simply  overwhelming  armies 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION    123 

of  millions  of  men,  equipped  with  every  appliance 
of  modern  war,  down  upon  the  checkmated  foe. 

The  result  would  be  as  certain  as  the  law  of 
gravitation.  The  baffled  and  overwhelmed  in- 
vaders would  have  no  possible  resource  except 
either  to  surrender  on  the  soil,  or  to  take  flight 
in  their  ships,  if  they  had  any  ships  left.  In  either 
case  the  disaster  to  their  nation  would  be  the 
greatest  in  its  history.  For  Japan  to  have  any 
rational  chance  of  conquering  the  United  States 
she  would  be  compelled  to  bring,  not  a  petty  one 
hundred  thousand  men,  or  five  hundred  thousand, 
but  a  million,  two  millions,  five  millions — and 
even  then  she  could  not  succeed. 

Tenth  and  finally:  Japan  could  not  possibly 
finance  a  war  with  us,  if  the  war  were  to  be  of 
sufficient  magnitude  to  amount  to  anything. 

Without  vast  financial  resources  no  nation  can 
possibly  succeed  in  a  war  with  any  strong  power 
in  our  day.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  Japan  is  poor — 
by  far  the  poorest  of  the  first-class  nations.  To  be 
sure  her  people  are  brave;  but  that  is  not  enough. 
Bravery  cannot  take  the  place  of  those  enormously 
expensive  armaments  and  those  mountains  of 
munitions  without  which  modern  battles  cannot 
be  won.     Doubtless  she  can  defend  herself  and 


i24  RISING  JAPAN 

protect  her  rights  at  home.  She  has  a  large  and 
well-trained  army  and  an  efficient  navy,  probably 
ample  in  strength  to  repel  any  possible  invaders 
from  her  shores.  But  she  has  no  adequate  fi- 
nancial resources  with  which  to  wage  wars  with 
strong  distant  nations. 

In  order  to  carry  on  her  relatively  inexpensive 
war  with  nearby  Russia,  in  1905,  she  was  obliged 
to  burden  herself  with  a  debt  that  is  well-nigh 
crushing.  Little  of  that  debt  is  yet  paid.  Under 
the  burden  of  it  she  must  stagger  for  many  years 
to  come.  To  assume  another  load  as  great  would 
ruin  her.  But  a  war  of  invasion  carried  on  in 
distant  America,  in  order  to  have  any  chance  at 
all  of  success,  would  have  to  be  many  times  over 
more  expensive.  Her  war  with  Russia  was  short; 
this  could  accomplish  nothing  unless  it  were  long. 
That,  she  was  able  to  carry  on  at  only  a  little 
distance  from  her  base  of  supplies,  while  her 
antagonist  was  four  thousand  miles  from  his.  In 
this,  the  situation  would  be  reversed;  here  she 
would  be  compelled  to  do  her  fighting  nearly 
six  thousand  miles  from  her  base  of  supplies,  while 
her  foe  would  fight  at  home. 

Not  only  does  Japan  not  have  the  money 
necessary  to  carry  on  war  with  America,  but  she 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     125 

could  not  borrow  it.  All  the  resources  she  pos- 
sesses would  not  afford  sufficient  security  on  which 
to  obtain  one-half  of  the  billions  of  money  which 
she  would  require.  She  would  be  bankrupt  before 
the  great  struggle  had  well  begun.  Moreover, 
even  if  she  possessed  the  necessary  security,  in 
what  direction  could  she  hope  to  find  the  money? 
No  nation  of  exhausted  Europe  has  it.  Her  only 
possible  resource  would  be  America.  O,  the 
humour  of  the  dream ! — would  she  seek  to  borrow 
from  us,  her  foe,  financial  resources  with  which  to 
invade  us,  and  for  guaranty  of  pay,  mortgage  to 
us  her  Sunrise  Empire? 

As  for  the  United  States,  her  resources  are 
practically  inexhaustible.  She  is  by  far  the 
richest  of  the  nations.  No  other  three,  probably 
no  other  four,  combined,  could  sustain  the  drain 
and  strain  of  war  so  long  as  she  alone.  A  war 
sufficiently  vast  and  carried  on  sufficiently  long  to 
conquer  this  country  (for  it  would  have  to  be  a 
war  as  terrible  as  that  in  Europe  and  continued 
for  years)  would  require  the  financial  resources, 
not  of  Japan,  but  of  a  third  part  of  the  world. 
And  even  then  it  would  fail. 

The  task  that  confronts  any  nation  that  at- 
tempts, under  modern  conditions,  to  carry  on  a  war 


126  RISING  JAPAN 

against  a  distant  people,  fighting  in  their  own  land 
in  defence  of  ''their  homes,  their  altars,  and  their 
fires, "  is  well  illustrated  by  the  war  of  Great  Britain 
with  the  Boers  of  South  Africa,  in  1 899-1 902. 

Great  Britain,  the  richest  nation  in  Europe,  and 
one  of  the  most  powerful,  possessing  the  largest 
merchant  marine  in  the  world  and  therefore  having 
the  best  facilities  of  any  nation  for  transporting 
troops  and  munitions  of  war,  found  it  necessary  to 
send  to  South  Africa  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  soldiers,  to  be  at  an  expense  of  almost 
a  billion  dollars,  and  to  carry  on  a  struggle  for 
more  than  two  years  and  a  half,  in  order  to  conquer 
a  little  nation  of  half  a  million  Boer  farmers. 

In  the  light  of  these  facts,  how  many  soldiers 
may  we  suppose  Japan  would  be  compelled  to 
send  to  America,  how  much  money  would  she  be 
obliged  to  spend,  and  how  long  a  time  would  it 
take  her  to  conquer  the  United  States,  a  nation  170 
times  as  populous  as  the  Boer  Republics,  far  more 
than  170  times  as  rich,  and  as  distant  from  her 
shores  as  South  Africa  is  from  England  ? 

Possibly  a  little  light  may  also  be  obtained  on 
the  practicability  of  an  invasion  of  America  by 
Japan,  by  a  study  of  our  own  experience  in  the 
Philippines. 


MENACE  OF  A  JAPANESE  INVASION     127 

We  carried  on  a  war  in  those  islands  with  a 
people  numbering  eight  million,  virtually  without 
a  Government,  extremely  poor,  having  armies 
made  up  of  raw  recruits,  almost  wholly  without 
artillery,  provided  in  the  main  with  only  the  very 
poorest  of  arms,  indeed  some  of  them  fighting 
with  bows  and  arrows.  How  long  did  it  take  us 
to  conquer  them?     More  than  two  years! 

In  view  of  this  bit  of  history  of  our  own,  how 
long  may  we  suppose  it  would  take  Japan  to 
conquer  a  distant  nation  like  the  United  States, 
which,  in  a  year's  time,  if  necessity  arose,  could 
put  into  the  field  five  millions  of  men,  and  in  two 
years  ten  millions,  thoroughly  trained,  and  pro- 
vided with  the  most  effective  arms  and  the  most 
deadly  war  appliances  of  every  kind,  that  the 
modern  world  could  create? 

I  do  not  wonder  at  the  declaration  of  an  eminent 
Japanese  statesman,  made  in  my  presence  in 
Tokyo,  that  "there  is  as  much  probability  of 
Japan  attempting  an  invasion  of  America  as  there 
is  of  the  people  of  the  planet  Mars  undertaking 
the  same  job,  and  no  more. " 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA 

Is  japan's  Attitude  toward  China  Likely  to  Give 
Trouble  to  the  United  States? 

There  are  two  other  sources  of  irritation  and 
consequently  of  possible  danger  between  the 
United  States  and  Japan,  besides  the  machinations 
of  mischief  makers  and  the  scare-talk  about  an 
invasion. 

One  is  the  situation  in  China. 

I  do  not  regard  the  Chinese  situation  so  far  as 
it  relates  to  the  interests  of  this  country,  as  by  any 
means  seriously  critical.  And  yet  it  should  be 
mentioned,  because  not  a  few  persons  among  us 
have  at  times  been  apprehensive  lest  the  policies 
of  this  country  and  of  Japan  in  China  might 
conflict  and  thus  lead  to  trouble. 

The  matters  over  which  collision  has  been 
feared  are  two.  One  is  the  "integrity"  of  China 
and  the  other  is  the  "open  door."     When  John 

128 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     129 

Hay  was  our  Secretary  of  State  he  made  it  known 
in  the  Orient  and  among  those  nations  of  Europe 
which  have  the  most  intimate  relations  with  the 
Orient,  that  we  in  this  country  desire  and  expect 
China  on  her  part  to  keep  open  the  doors  of  her 
commerce  and  trade  equally  to  all  nations;  and 
that  we  also  desire  and  expect  all  governments 
which  have  relations  with  China,  on  their  part  to 
respect  her  integrity — that  is,  to  do  nothing  looking 
in  the  direction  of  dividing  or  appropriating  her 
territory ;  and  also  to  refrain  from  all  action  aiming 
to  close  the  doors  of  her  trade  and  commerce  in 
any  respect,  or  to  interfere  in  any  way  with 
equality  of  opportunity  for  all  nations  in  trade 
relations  with  her  people. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  Japan  made  certain 
demands  upon  China  which  to  the  Chinese 
Government  and  to  some  persons  in  this  country 
seemed  severe — indeed,  seemed  both  to  threaten 
China's  independence  and  also  to  interfere  with 
the  open-door  principle.  To  these  demands  the 
Chinese  Government  strongly  objected.  Much 
discussion  followed.  Extensive  negotiations  were 
carried  on  between  Pekin  and  Tokyo.  America 
asked  for  fuller  information.  '     At  last  the  demands 

1  These  demands  were  the  work  of  the  short-lived  Okuma 


130  RISING  JAPAN 

were  explained,  the  misunderstandings  were  cor- 
rected, the  more  objectionable  demands  were 
either  modified  or  withdrawn,  and  unequivocal 
assurances  were  given  by  Japan  that  nothing  in 
the  demands  was  intended  to  interfere  with 
China's  rights  as  an  independent  nation,  or  to 
curtail  the  principle  of  equal  freedom  of  trade  in 
China  by  all  nations.  Indeed,  we  have  many 
assurances  from  the  most  reliable  sources,  includ- 
ing the  highest  officials  of  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, that  Japan  does  not  seek  territory  or  political 
control  in  China,  and  will  do  nothing  to  inter- 
fere with  China's  integrity  or  to  disturb  the  policy 
of  the  "open  door." 

One  of  the  best  known  of  these  assurances  is 
the  Anglo- Japanese  Treaty  of  1905,  the  second 
paragraph  of  whose  preamble  declares  the  Treaty 
to  have  for  its  object:  "The  preservation  of  the 
common  interests  of  all  the  powers  in  China  by 
insuring  the  independence  and  integrity  of  the 

ministry.  The  better  mind  of  Japan  did  not  approve  of  them. 
As  a  result,  the  ministry  of  Count  Okuma  was  overthrown.  The 
present  Premier,  Count  Terauchi,  and  his  Cabinet,  from  the 
outset  have  taken  the  attitude  not  only  of  friendliness  to  China, 
but  of  scrupulous  consideration  for  the  feelings,  sentiments,  and  ' 
desires  of  the  Chinese  people,  carefully  refraining  so  far  as  possible 
from  everything  that  might  even  be  interpreted  as  encroaching 
on  their  rights. 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     131 

Chinese  Empire  and  the  principle  of  equal  oppor- 
tunity for  the  commerce  and  industry  of  all 
nations  in  China."  Thus,  as  the  Outlook  com- 
ments, "The  Treaty  recognizes  the  policy  of  the 
open  door  as  final  and  authoritative." 

The  Root-Takahira  Agreement  between  Japan 
and  this  country  (December,  1908)  is  equally 
explicit.      Says    Article    4    of    that    Agreement: 

They  [Japan  and  the  United  States]  are  determined 
to  preserve  the  common  interests  of  all  powers  in 
China,  by  supporting  by  all  pacific  means  at  their 
disposal  the  independence  and  integrity  of  China  and 
the  principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  the  commerce 
and  industry  of  all  nations  in  that  Empire. 

The  assertion  is  made  in  some  quarters  that 
Japan,  while  nominally  assenting  to  the  open- 
door  policy,  as  a  fact  is  endeavouring  to  mono- 
polize Chinese  trade  and  shut  out  the  United 
States. 

Is  there  any  foundation  for  this  assertion? 

Of  course  Japan  desires  to  extend  her  trade  in 
China.  This  is  her  right.  China  is  her  nearest 
foreign  market,  and  a  market  of  almost  unlimited 
extent  if  only  developed.  She  needs  this  market. 
Doubtless  she  will  put  forth  vigorous  and  persist- 


i32  RISING  JAPAN 

ent  efforts  to  develop  it.  And  why  should  she 
not  ?  All  we  have  a  right  to  ask  of  her  is  that  her 
competition  with  us  there  shall  be  honourable,  as 
it  has  always  been. 

There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  believing  that 
Japan  desires  to  prevent  investments  of  American 
capital  in  China.  What  she  insists  upon  is  simply 
that  investments  made  by  Americans,  or  citizens 
of  any  other  country,  ought  to  take  such  a  form 
as  not  to  endanger  China's  political  independence 
and  full  control  of  every  part  of  her  own  domain. 
This  is  important,  because  in  the  past  several 
European  powers,  by  means  of  loans  and  invest- 
ments, have  obtained  franchises  and  concessions 
that  have  had  the  effect  of  robbing  China  of  large 
areas  of  territory  and  bringing  her,  as  regards 
certain  important  matters,  into  political  subjec- 
tion to  those  powers.  This  Japan  believes  to  be 
in  the  highest  degree  dangerous  to  China,  to 
herself,  and  to  the  entire  Orient.  To  this  she 
naturally  and  rightly  objects.  But  as  to  invest- 
ments of  American  capital  in  China  in  ways  that 
will  not  interfere  with  her  territorial  integrity  and 
political  freedom,  these  Japan  favours  and  even 
urges — urges  them  because  whatever  tends  to 
increase  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  China  is 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     133 

certain  to  benefit  Japan,  China's  nearest  neighbour 
and  best  customer. 

As  proof  of  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  cite  the 
fact  that  in  the  winter  of  191 5-1 6  Baron  Shibu- 
sawa,  who  is  perhaps  the  most  influential  industrial 
and  financial  leader  in  Japan,  made  an  extended 
visit  to  this  country  on  purpose  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  our  chambers  of  commerce  and  our  leading 
financiers  and  business  men  to  the  great  open- 
ings that  exist  in  China  for  American  investments. 
China  has  enormous  undeveloped  resources,  he 
pointed  out.  She  has  mines  among  the  richest 
in  the  world,  that  are  almost  untouched.  She 
has  vast  and  numberless  water  powers  that  are 
unused.  Her  need  of  railroads,  telegraphs,  high- 
ways and  bridges,  manufactures,  all  the  appliances 
and  accompaniments  of  modern  civilization,  is 
almost  limitless.  Here  is  America's  opportunity, 
with  safety  and  profit  to  herself,  to  be  of  the  highest 
possible  service  to  a  great  people  just  struggling 
out  of  the  limitations  of  the  past  into  a  larger  life. 

You  in  America  [said  in  effect  this  distinguished 
financier]  possess  the  capital  that  China  requires; 
but  she  is  distant  from  you,  and  you  have  little 
knowledge  of  Chinese  conditions.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  in  Japan  are  near  her;  we  have  long  been  in  close 


134  RISING  JAPAN 

contact  with  the  Chinese  people;  our  civilization  is 
related  to  theirs;  we  know  them  as  it  is  impossible 
for  the  people  of  another  continent  and  another  race 
to  do.  We  have  only  limited  capital,  but  we  have 
men,  men  in  great  numbers,  trained  in  finance,  in 
business  management  and  methods,  in  science,  in 
engineering,  in  manufactures,  in  all  those  lines  of 
knowledge,  skill  and  enterprise  that  China  requires 
for  her  development.  Many  of  them  are  men 
trained  in  your  own  American  universities.  Let  us 
join  hands  therefore;  let  us  co-operate  in  this  great 
field,  in  this  great  undertaking  to  give  China  the 
financial  and  industrial  assistance  that  she  needs. 
Let  us  do  it  not  as  charity  or  philanthropy,  but  as 
business,  as  honourable  business,  conducted  with  a 
view  to  the  benefit  of  all  concerned,  America,  Japan 
and  China. 

Such  was  essentially  the  message  brought  by 
Baron  Shibusawa  from  the  business  men  of  Japan 
to  the  business  men  of  America.  The  same 
message  has  come  to  us  through  other  sources, 
and  continues  to  come.  Whether  it  is  or  is  not  a 
wise  message,  at  least  it  is  an  honourable  and  a  fra- 
ternal one,  and  one  that  should  answer  once  for  all 
the  assertions  of  those  who  would  have  us  believe 
that  Japan  is  scheming  to  close  the  door  of  finance 
and  business  in  China  against  the  United  States. * 

1  The  attitude  toward  China  assumed  by  Count  Terauchi,  the 
present  Premier,  seems  assuring.     He  has  taken  pains  to  make 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     135 

As  for  the  integrity  of  China,  that  in  the  past 
has  been  violated  repeatedly,  and  with  results  of 
the  most  serious  character.  Who  have  been  the 
violators?  For  the  most  part  the  nations  of 
Europe.    At  least  four  of  those  nations — Great 

clear  to  the  world  that  Japan's  desire  is  not  for  a  weak  but  for  a 
strong  China.  Said  the  editor  of  East  and  West  News  under  date 
of  December  28,  19 16:  "According  to  the  news  agency's  recent 
reports,  Count  Terauchi  and  his  Cabinet  are  resolved  that  Japan 
will  not  interfere  with  the  internal  affairs  of  China  in  any  way; 
that  she  will  co-operate  with  that  country  for  the  'preservation  of 
peace  in  the  Far  East ' ;  that  she  will  attempt  to  acquire  no  more 
rights  in  China,  and  will  not  hereafter  urge  the  Pekin  Government 
to  employ  Japanese  advisers  unless  China  really  welcomes  them 
for  the  development  of  the  country. " 

Says  Dr.  Sawayanagi,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Peers,  in  an 
article  published  in  Shin  Nippon,  the  magazine  of  ex-Premier 
Marquis  Okuma:  "Japan  does  not  wish  any  territorial  partition 
of  China.  The  idea  of  such  partition  must  be  denounced  most 
emphatically.  If  Japan  gained  a  portion  of  China's  territory, 
Britain,  France,  Russia  and  Germany  would  claim  from  China 
the  same  concession,  and  thus  Japan's  sphere  of  activity  in  China 
would  be  narrowed.  If,  on  the  contrary,  Japan's  activity  in 
China  be  limited  to  economic,  religious  and  other  peaceful  under- 
takings, the  whole  of  China  will  be  thrown  open  to  Japan's 
activity.  What  China  demands  of  Japan  lies  in  a  different 
direction.  China  is  not  yet  equipped  with  all  the  organization 
requisite  for  an  independent  state.  Her  social  organization  must 
be  made  orderly.  Her  currency  must  be  improved,  her  tax  laws 
unified.  She  cannot  do  these  things  without  external  help. 
Japan  is  her  nearest  neighbour  and  most  assured  friend.  The 
interests  of  the  two  nations  are  one. " — East  and  West  News, 
May  3,  191 7. 

Says  Viscount  Kaneko:  "China  is  the  place  where  Japanese 
and  American  business  men  can  go  hand  in  hand  and  effect 
benefits  advantageous  to  both.     The  United  States  will  get  the 


136  RISING  JAPAN 

Britain,  Russia,  France,  and  Germany — have 
wrested  from  the  Chinese  people  large  areas,  in- 
cluding strategic  military  and  naval  bases  of  great 
importance,  and  have  laid  plans  threatening  still 
further    seizures.     Of    course    Japan    from    the 

larger  proportion  of  this  trade.  We  do  not  claim  an  equal 
proportion.  The  United  States  has  larger  plants,  more  abundant 
engineering,  more  skilled  workmen.  Let  America  get  the  larger 
proportion  in  China,  we  getting  our  reasonable  share. 

"America  could  supply  capital,  engineering  talent  and  machin- 
ery which  we  cannot  supply,  but  we  can  supply  some  material 
and  some  workmen,  and  then  we  could  work  hand  in  hand.  I 
think  the  Chinese  market  will  witness  co-operation  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States  within  a  few  years,  and  I  hope  the  co- 
operation will  be  advantageous  to  both  nations  and  to  the  people 
of  China. " — East  and  West  News,  January  25,  1917. 

Mr.  Gilbert  Bowles,  secretary  and  director  of  the  Japanese 
Language  School  of  Tokyo  and  Secretary  of  the  American  Peace 
Society  of  Japan,  who  for  many  years  has  been  a  close  student  of 
Japan's  foreign  policy,  bears  strong  testimony  to  the  friendly 
feeling  and  intentions  of  Japan  toward  both  China  and  the 
United  States.  He  writes  in  the  American  Advocate  of  Peace  of 
December,  1916:  "Japan's  declared  policy  regarding  Chinese 
matters  is  in  complete  harmony  with  America's.  This  is  attested 
by  the  fact  that  every  treaty  obligation  into  which  Japan  has 
entered  is  pledged  to  maintain  the  open  door  and  non-partition 
of  China.  The  open  door  in  China  will  give  Japan  all  she  wants. 
She  will  benefit  more  than  any  other  country  by  the  moderniza- 
tion of  China;  her  opportunities  will  be  as  great  as  she  can 
possibly  use,  and  this  will  be  because  of  her  natural  advantages, 
about  which  no  one  can  quarrel  with  her.  In  China  the  interests 
of  Japan  and  America  are  not  in  collision,  and  cannot  come  in 
collision,  so  long  as  Japan's  treaty  obligations  remain  what  they 
are  today.  Japanese  statesmen  are  too  well  acquainted  with 
the  realities  of  the  situation  to  dream  of  attacking  America 
because  of  any  question  existing  between  the  two  nations. " 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     137 

beginning  has  recognized  in  all  this  a  peril  to 
herself  and  to  the  whole  Orient.  If  China  were 
destroyed  as  an  independent  nation  by  being 
apportioned  among  the  powers  of  Europe,  nothing 
in  the  Orient  would  be  safe.  Even  Japan  herself 
would  have  to  fight  for  her  life,  and  would  be 
fortunate  if  she  could  preserve  it.  Indeed  it  could 
hardly  be  more  than  a  question  of  time  when  all 
Asia  would  become  subject  to  Europe,  as  two- 
thirds  of  it  already  is. 

These  facts  and  considerations  should  help  us  to 
see  how  greatly  to  the  interest  of  Japan  it  is  that 
China's  integrity  shall  be  preserved  inviolate,  and 
that  the  Chinese  nation  shall  become  prosperous 
and  strong.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  any 
signs  of  weakness  on  the  part  of  China's  Govern- 
ment causes  anxiety  in  Japan;  for  a  helpless  China, 
ready  to  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  nations  which 
have  despoiled  her  in  the  past,  renders  Japan's  own 
future  insecure. 

Is  it  strange,  if  the  facts  that  Japan  is  situated 
near  to  China,  that  their  interests  are  closely 
related,  that  her  government  is  well  established 
and  strong  while  that  of  China  is  as  yet  somewhat 
insecure,  and  above  all  that  she  possesses  large 
military    and    naval    strength    while   China   has 


i38  RISING  JAPAN 

comparatively  little — is  it  strange  if  these  facts 
cause  Japan  to  feel  a  degree  of  responsibility  for 
and  to  China,  and  a  desire  to  lend  her  a  helping 
hand  if  she  may? 

Nothing  is  more  clear  than  that  the  future 
destiny  of  Japan  is  largely  bound  up  with  that  of 
China,  and  the  future  of  China  with  that  of  Japan. 
The  two  nations  must  stand  together  as  friends, 
or  else,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Gulick, 

come  under  the  heavy  hand  of  a  united  European 
domination.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  Japanese 
expulsion  of  European  powers  from  China,  except 
with  the  cordial  co-operation  of  China  herself.  If 
Japan  does  not  win  and  keep  the  friendship  of  China, 
then  Japan  herself  is  ruined,  for  China  and  Europe 
combined  can  crush  Japan. 

Fortunately,  the  indications  are,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  that  the  future  policy  of  Japan  is 
likely  to  be  one  of  steadily  increasing  amity  and 
co-operation  with  her  great  neighbour.  In  that 
case  neither  need  fear. 

Is  it  strange  if  Japan  feels  that  there  is  a  neces- 
sity for  a  sort  of  ' '  Monroe  Doctrine  "  of  the  Orient, 
and  that,  because  she  at  present  is  the  only  strong 
power  in  that  part  of  the  world,  therefore  that  the 
obligation  rests  upon  her  to  become  the  guardian 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     139 

of  such  a  doctrine  in  the  Orient,  in  some  such  way 
as  the  United  States  has  been  the  guardian  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  in  America? 

In  the  words  of  Mr.  David  Lawrence:  "Japan 
wants  a  leadership  in  the  Far  East  analogous  to 
that  of  the  United  States  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere." Why  should  she  not  have  it,  if  only 
she  will  employ  that  leadership  unselfishly,  justly, 
generously?     Says  Mr.  Lawrence: 

We  on  our  part  have  put  ourselves  on  record  as 
desiring  no  territory  or  even  commercial  preference  in 
Central  and  South  America.  We  stand  in  relation  to 
the  republics  to  the  south  of  us  in  the  same  position 
that  we  gladly  would  have  Japan  stand  toward  China. 
We  decline  to  take  for  ourselves  anything  which  we 
would  not  gladly  let  other  nations  share  with  us. 
Japan  has  announced  many  a  time  that  she  does  not 
want  any  "third  power"  to  obtain  Chinese  territory. 
Will  she  explicitly  include  herself  in  that  pledge  and 
thereby  guarantee  for  all  time  the  territorial  integrity 
and  administrative  independence  of  her  own  nearest 
neighbour?  That  would  be  a  true  Monroe  Doctrine, 
and  America  would  heartily  welcome  the  application 
of  its  great  principle  by  Japan  to  the  Far  East. r 

In  all  fairness,  why  is  not  a  Monroe  Doctrine 
of  the  East  as  important  and  as  justifiable  as 
a  Monroe  Doctrine  on  the  American  Continent? 

1  New  York  Evening  Post,  June  30,  19 17. 


i4o  RISING  JAPAN 

And  under  the  conditions  which  now  exist  and 
which  are  likely  to  exist  for  an  indefinite  future, 
why  is  it  not  both  fitting  and  imperative  for  Japan 
to  have  it  in  charge?  If  Japan  scrupulously  re- 
spects the  sentiments  and  the  rights  of  the  Chinese 
people  and  if  she  refrains  from  interfering  in  any 
way  with  their  independence  as  a  nation,  whether 
in  home  or  foreign  affairs,  as  the  United  States 
avoids  interfering  with  the  independence,  the 
rights,  and  the  sentiments  of  the  nations  of  America, 
then  surely  a  Monroe  Doctrine  of  the  Orient,  and 
Japan's  guardianship  of  the  same,  ought  to  prove 
of  great  protective  value  to  China,  and  therefore, 
it  would  seem,  ought  to  be  welcome  to  both 
China  and  the  United  States. 

The  above  was  written  before  the  coming  to  this 
country  of  the  special  commission  headed  by 
Viscount  Ishii.  If  there  existed  previously  any 
doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  as  to  Japan's  attitude 
toward  China  the  grounds  for  such  doubt  have 
now  been  removed.  Said  Viscount  Ishii  at  the 
Mayor's  Banquet  in  New  York  (October  2,  191 7): 

At  no  time  in  the  past  and  at  no  time  in  the  future 
did  we  or  will  we  seek  to  take  territory  from  China,  or 
to  despoil  China  of  her  rights.  We  wish  to  be  and 
always  to  continue  to  be,  the  sincere  friend  and  helper 


THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CHINA     141 

of  our  neighbour,  for  we  are  more  interested  than  any 
one  else  except  China  herself  in  good  government 
there;  only  we  must  at  all  times,  for  self-protection, 
prevent  other  nations  from  doing  what  we  have  no 
right  to  do.  Not  only  will  we  not  seek  to  assail  the 
integrity  or  sovereignty  of  China,  but  we  will  event- 
ually be  prepared  to  defend  and  maintain  the  same 
integrity  and  independence  of  China  against  any 
aggressor. 

Commenting  on  this  clear,  strong,  unequivocal, 
and  authoritative  utterance,  the  New  York  Times 
well  said : 

Viscount  Ishii's  frank  and  candid  statement  of 
Japan's  policy  toward  China  should  remove  any 
doubt  or  anxiety  which  misunderstanding  or  misrepre- 
sentation may  have  caused.  We  are  heartily  in 
accord  with  Ishii  in  this  policy.1 

1  It  only  remains  to  be  added,  that  on  November  2,  a  definite 
and  binding  Agreement  was  entered  into  between  this  country 
and  Japan,  embodying  exactly  the  pledges  regarding  China 
which  were  made  by  Viscount  Ishii  in  his  New  York  address, 
quoted  above.  This  authoritative  Agreement  was  signed  on  the 
part  of  Japan  by  Viscount  Ishii,  as  Embassador  Extraordinary 
and  Plenipotentiary,  and  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  by 
Robert  Lansing,  Secretary  of  State.  The  Agreement  was  given 
out  to  the  public  by  Secretary  Lansing  on  November  6,  19 17. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   MENACE   OF  JAPAN   IN    CALIFORNIA 

Are  the  Japanese  in  California  a  Local  Danger? 
Are  They  a  National  Danger? 

A  second  source  of  irritation  between  this 
country  and  Japan;  and  therefore,  of  possible 
danger,  is  the  situation  in  California. 

This  may  prove  serious,  very  serious.  However, 
it  ought  not  to  do  so,  and  it  will  not,  if  we  as  a 
nation,  including  the  people  of  California,  are 
wise,  courteous  and  just  in  our  dealings  with  the 
Japanese  Government,  and  with  the  few  thousands 
of  Japanese  immigrants  who  have  sought  a  home 
on  our  shores. 

The  treatment  of  Japan  by  the  United  States 
Government,  as  a  government,  has  generally  been 
honourable  and  fair.  I  think  we  have  never  had 
a  President  and  never  a  Secretary  of  State  (unless 
we  except  Mr.  Knox — in  his  contention  regarding 
the  Manchurian  railways),  who  can  be  charged 

142 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     143 

with  failure  in  courtesy  or  justice  in  his  dealings 
with  the  Japanese  Government  or  with  the  Japanese 
people  resident  in  this  country.  The  trouble  has 
been  with  individuals  among  us,  with  Congress 
in  some  degree,  and  with  several  of  our  Western 
States,  particularly  the  one  already  named.  Let 
us  try  to  understand  the  California  situation. 
There  is  much  misapprehension  concerning  it. 

The  impression  seems  to  be  widespread  that 
Japanese  immigration  on  our  Pacific  Coast  is 
really  a  menace — that  so  many  Japanese  labourers 
are  coming,  or  seeking  to  come,  as  to  crowd  out 
our  own  people  and  to  endanger  our  American 
institutions. 

What  are  the  exact  facts? 

There  was  at  one  time  some  real  justification  for 
the  California  people  fearing  an  influx  of  objec- 
tionable Japanese.  Before  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
became  a  part  of  the  United  States,  American 
planters  there  had  brought  to  the  islands  large 
numbers  of  Japanese  as  contract  labourers,  vir- 
tually as  slaves,  who  worked  for  very  low  wages 
and  under  conditions  about  as  bad  as  can  be 
conceived,  conditions  under  which  they  became 
seriously  degraded  and  brutalized.  Soon  after 
the  islands  were  annexed  by  us  in   1898   some 


144  RISING  JAPAN 

thousands  of  these  undesirable  labourers  took 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  thus  opened  to  them 
to  migrate  to  our  Pacific  Coast  States,  principally 
to  California.  The  sudden  influx  and  the  general 
low  character  of  these  immigrants  not  unnaturally 
alarmed  the  California  people.  As  a  result  an 
anti-Japanese  agitation  began. 

If  conditions  had  remained  permanently  as 
they  were  at  first,  there  would  have  been  some 
ground  for  a  continuance  of  the  agitation  to  the 
present  time.  But  conditions  did  not  remain 
as  they  were  in  the  beginning.  In  the  first  place, 
there  was  soon  a  marked  change  in  the  general 
character  of  the  Japanese  that  came.  The  earlier 
immigrants  who  had  been  contract  labourers  on 
Hawaiian  plantations,  and  who  had  been  bru- 
talized by  years  of  shocking  treatment  by  their 
employers  there,  did  not  truly  represent  the 
labouring  men  of  Japan;  but  the  fact  that  they 
came  first  created  a  prejudice  against  the  Japanese 
people  generally,  which  it  was  hard  to  eradicate. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  those  early  immigrants  from 
Hawaii  themselves  began  greatly  to  improve  as 
soon  as  they  had  escaped  from  the  degrading 
conditions  of  their  contract  serfdom  in  the  islands 
and  had  been  permitted  to  enter  upon  free  lives 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     145 

under  the  better  conditions  which  they  found  in 
California.  What  was  still  more  important,  the 
later  Japanese  immigrants  who  came  mainly  from 
Japan  direct,  and  had  been  subjected  to  no  such 
deteriorating  influences  as  those  of  the  Hawaiian 
plantations,  were  and  are  of  a  distinctly  superior 
class.  If  these  men,  who  were  and  are  the  true 
representatives  of  Japanese  labour,  had  reached 
California  first,  it  would  have  been  much  more 
difficult  to  stir  up  an  anti- Japanese  agitation. 
This  changed  and  improved  character  of  the 
Japanese  labourers  in  California,  and  the  fact 
that  if  labourers  shall  come  in  the  future  they 
will  be  of  this  better  class,  should  be  understood 
if  we  would  see  the  situation  in  California  as 
it  really  is. 

Still  another  thing  it  is  equally  important  for 
us  to  understand.  It  is  that  the  immigration  of 
Japanese  labour  into  California  virtually  ceased 
nearly  ten  years  ago,  so  that  it  is  not  a  present 
issue,  but  only  one  of  the  past.  And  it  is  instruc- 
tive to  note  that  this  immigration  was  stopped, 
not  by  the  State  of  California,  nor  by  the  United 
States  Government,  but  by  Japan.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  political  and  labour  agitators  in  Califor- 
nia, largely  or  wholly  for  selfish  ends,  had  stirred 


146  RISING  JAPAN 

up  prejudice  against  the  Japanese,  representing 
their  presence  as  a  menace,  and  demanding  various 
forms  of  humiliating  legislation  against  them,  the 
Japanese  Government,  to  do  what  it  could  to 
avoid  friction  between  the  two  countries,  in  the 
year  1907,  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States — not  a  treaty 
but  what  is  known  as  a  "Gentleman's  Agreement," 
— promising,  of  its  own  motion,  to  issue  no  more 
passports  permitting  Japanese  labouring  men  to 
leave  Japan  for  the  purpose  of  entering  the  United 
States.  This  "Gentleman's  Agreement"  the 
Japanese  Government  has  strictly  kept,  and  pro- 
poses to  keep.  Thus  we  see  how  entirely  with- 
out foundation  is  the  idea  that  Japan  desires  to 
force  her  people  on  us,  against  our  will,  or  that 
California  or  any  other  part  of  the  United  States 
is  in  danger  of  an  overplus  of  Japanese  labourers. 
There  has  been,  since  the  Gentleman's  Agree- 
ment went  into  effect,  some  return  from  Japan  of 
labourers  who  had  gone  there  temporarily,  after 
having  previously  resided  in  this  country;  this  the 
Agreement  permitted.  There  have  also  entered 
this  country  considerable  numbers  of  non-lab- 
ourers— students  who  have  come  to  study  in  our 
universities,  travellers,  merchants,  and  wives  and 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     147 

children  of  Japanese  men  residing  here.  For  all 
these  the  Agreement  made  provision.  But  the 
class  of  persons  of  whom  the  California  people 
complained,  and  whom  they  desired  to  have  shut 
out,  namely  the  Japanese  labouring  class,  have 
been  and  are  shut  out  effectually  by  the  Gentle- 
man's Agreement,  with  the  exception,  of  course, 
of  those  who  were  already  residents  of  California  *\ 
when  the  Agreement  was  entered  into.  This 
means  that  the  Japanese  of  the  labouring  class  in 
California  are  decreasing  in  number,  and  have 
been  ever  since  the  Agreement  went  into  force. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  In 
the  seven  years  following  the  Agreement,  15,139 
more  Japanese  men  (mostly  labourers)  left  the 
United  States  than  entered. 

How  many  Japanese  are  there  now  in  California? 

According  to  the  latest  authorities,  the  number 
is  somewhere  between  fifty-five  thousand  and 
sixty  thousand.  Consul-General  Yamazaki,  of 
San  Francisco,  reporting  on  the  census  of  Japanese 
in  California  undertaken  in  191 6  by  the  Japanese 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  gives  the  number  as 
sixty  thousand.  Professor  H.  A.  Millis,  as  the 
result  of  a  careful  investigation  made  in  19 14-15, 
and  published  in  his  book,  The  Japanese  Problem 


148  RISING  JAPAN 

in  California,  decides  upon  fifty-five  thousand. 
Suppose  we  take  the  larger  number;  what  pro- 
portion would  that  be  of  the  whole  population  of 
the  State,  which  in  1910  was  2,377,549,  but  which 
is  believed  to  be  now  not  less  than  2,750,000?  It 
would  give  us  one  Japanese  to  every  forty-six 
other  persons,  or  a  Japanese  population  of  about  two 
per  cent,  of  the  whole — a  proportion  so  strangely 
small  compared  with  the  number  of  foreigners  of 
other  nationalities  (Irish,  Germans,  Scandinavians, 
Italians,  et  al.)  found  in  some  of  our  States,  that 
we  wonder  how  anybody  can  think  of  it  as  a 
"peril.  "\ 

1  According  to  estimates  made  by  the  Japanese  Foreign  Office, 
Tokyo,  in  19 15,  the  total  number  of  Japanese  in  the  entire  West- 
ern Hemisphere,  in  Alaska,  Canada,  the  United  States,  Mexico, 
Central  America,  and  South  America,  all  combined,  is  (or  was 
two  years  ago)  201,1 10.  This  is  fewer  than  the  number  of  immi- 
grants that  have  come  into  the  United  States  in  a  single  year 
from  a  single  European  country.  In  1851  we  admitted  221,253 
immigrants  from  Ireland,  and  in  the  years  1881  and  1882  we 
received  210,484  and  250,630,  respectively,  from  Germany. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA  (Continued) 

Are  the  Japanese  in  California  a  Local  Danger? 
Are  They  a  National  Danger  ? 

Notwithstanding  the  facts  that  the  Japanese 
labourers  in  California  are  relatively  so  few,  and 
that  they  are  not  increasing  in  number,  are  they 
not,  for  various  reasons,  an  undesirable  and 
dangerous  class?  and  are  not  the  "white"  people 
of  the  State  justified  in  discriminating  against 
them  and  desiring  to  get  rid  of  them  ? 

Let  us  see  what  are  some  of  the  principal  com- 
plaints made  concerning  them. 

Are  they  not  an  illiterate  class,  whose  ignorance 
is  a  peril  and  whose  presence  lowers  the  general 
intelligence  of  the  State? 

The  answer  is:  There  are  illiterates  among  them, 
but  they  are  very  few.  Their  proportion  to  the 
whole  number  is  much  less  than  among  Italians 
and  other  European  immigrants  who  are  warmly 

149 


150  RISING  JAPAN 

welcomed  in  California  and  in  every  other  Ameri- 
can State. 

Do  not  the  Japanese  keep  their  own  language 
and  neglect  or  refuse  to  learn  English,  and  thus 
remain  a  permanently  alien  and  unassimilated 
element  in  the  communities  where  they  live  ? 

Mr.  John  D.  Mackenzie,  Commissioner  of  Labour 
Statistics  of  California,  who  at  the  direction  of  the 
Legislature  conducted  a  special  investigation  into 
conditions  among  the  Japanese  of  the  State, 
reported,  as  one  of  the  surprises  of  the  investiga- 
tion, the  fact  that  almost  every  Japanese,  whether 
farmer  or  farmhand,  was  found  to  have  in  his 
possession  English- Japanese  dictionaries  and  con- 
versation books;  which  of  course  showed  not  only 
their  literacy  in  their  native  tongue  but  their 
eagerness  to  learn  English.  Many  of  them  were 
found  to  be  subscribers  to  local  English  papers, 
while  their  favourite  magazines  were  not  fiction 
magazines,  but  such  substantial  publications  as 
the  Outlook,  The  Independent,  The  Review  of 
Reviews,  and  The  Literary  Digest.  Says  another 
investigator:  "The  Japanese  of  California  are 
as  steady  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  as  they  are 
industrious  as  tillers  of  the  soil."1 

1  See  Asia  at  the  Door,  by  K.  K.  Kawakami,  pp.  137-138. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     151 

Do  not  Japanese  labourers  work  for  lower  wages 
than  others,  and  therefore  do  they  not  force  down 
the  wages  of  American  and  European  labourers 
below  the  living  point  ? 

Emphatically,  no.  This  is  the  answer  given 
both  by  the  California  Commission  of  1909  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  this  among  other  matters, 
and  also  by  the  United  States  Immigration  Com- 
mission. The  same  answer  is  given  by  Professor 
H.  A.  Millis,  in  his  book,  The  Japanese  Problem  in 
the  United  States,  who  tells  us  that  in  every  in- 
stance in  which  recent  data  have  been  obtained  it 
is  found  that  Japanese  and  European  immigrants 
are  paid  at  the  same  rate. 

Do  not  the  Japanese  in  California  live  in  the 
poorest  class  of  houses,  in  conditions  of  squalor, 
without  proper  cleanliness  or  sanitation,  and 
therefore  do  they  not  prove  themselves  very 
undesirable  neighbours  and  citizens  ? 

The  answer  is :  To  those  early  immigrants  from 
Hawaii,  already  mentioned,  who  were  very  poor, 
and  who  had  suffered  great  hardships  as  contract 
labourers,  almost  slaves,  objections  of  this  kind 
might  with  some  justice  have  been  made.  Also  in 
connection  with  some  individual  later  comers, 
from  both  Hawaii  and  from  Japan,  there  has  been 


152  RISING  JAPAN 

ground  for  such  objections.  But  this  condition 
of  things  has  almost  wholly  passed  by. 

In  their  own  country  the  Japanese,  even  the 
poorest  classes,  are  among  the  cleanliest  people 
in  the  world,  both  in  their  personal  habits  and  in 
their  homes.  As  already  stated,  personal  bathing 
at  least  once  a  day  is  universal,  and  when  one 
enters  a  home  he  always  puts  off  his  shoes. 

As  to  sanitation,  an  authority  who  has  investi- 
gated the  matter  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States 
says: 

The  Japanese  quarter  in  any  American  city  is  as 
sanitary  and  clean  as  any  foreign  district,  if  not  much 
more  so.  Sanitary  officers  admit  that,  compared 
with  the  houses  occupied  by  immigrants  of  some  other 
races,  those  of  the  Japanese  are  in  far  better  condition. 
True,  some  of  the  Japanese  lodging  houses  may  be 
found  somewhat  crowded,  but  none  are  so  crowded 
as  lodging  houses  of  other  immigrants.  In  the  matter 
of  sanitation  the  Japanese  everywhere  make  a  good 
showing. 

Of  course  when  Japanese  immigrants,  who 
happen  to  be  very  poor,  begin  their  life  in  this 
country,  like  other  very  poor  people,  they  have  to 
content  themselves  with  very  simple  and  plain 
quarters,  in  localities  where  rents  are  lowest. 
Their  home  furnishings  must  be  of  the  cheapest 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     153 

and  their  living  the  most  inexpensive.  This  is  the 
way  they  begin.  But  they  are  industrious  and 
saving  and  ambitious  to  rise,  and  no  class  of 
immigrants  sooner  put  off  all  traces  of  extreme 
poverty  or  squalor  and  provide  themselves  with 
comfortable  conditions  of  life,  and  with  attractive 
clothes,  than  the  Japanese.  Indeed,  one  of  the 
faults  found  with  them  by  a  certain  class  of  critics, 
is  that  they  dress  too  well,  pay  too  much  attention 
to  personal  appearance,  and  are  too  courteous  and 
polite. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  many  Japanese  farm- 
ers, like  their  compatriots  in  the  cities, 

are  not  yet  in  a  position  to  cultivate  refined  tastes. 
Their  dwellings  are  not  yet  what  they  can  be  proud  of. 
But  no  Japanese  will  admit  that  this  is  to  be  their 
ultimate  condition.  So  far  from  it,  they  are  ambitious 
not  only  to  acquire  wealth  but  to  elevate  their  social 
standing. 

It  has  been  contended  that  when  a  Japanese 
settles  on  a  farm  it  always  results  in  the  lowering 
of  price  of  the  adjoining  farms,  because  farmers 
do  not  desire  to  live  in  his  neighbourhood. 

Facts  do  not  countenance  such  contentions.  In 
the  first  place,  the  Japanese  have  in  most  cases  settled 
or  worked  on  undeveloped  lands,  whose  fertility  was 


154  RISING  JAPAN 

problematical  and  whose  price  was  naturally  very 
low.  They  clear  such  lands  and  convert  them  into 
highly  productive  farms. 

For  example,  the  land  about  Fresno  is  sandy,  and 
was  long  regarded  as  unproductive.  The  Japanese 
were  induced  to  come,  and  the  country  soon  became 
rich  with  grapes,  raisins  and  wines.  It  is  to  the 
Japanese  that  Fresno  is  indebted  for  its  general 
prosperity  and  for  the  high  price  that  its  farm  land 
now  commands. 

At  Florin,  not  far  from  Sacramento,  it  was  also  the 
Japanese  who  utilized  the  poorest  lands  and  converted 
them  into  profitable  strawberry  gardens. 

In  the  Sacramento  valley  the  lowlands  are  damp 
and  unhealthy,  and  in  consequence  remained  long 
undeveloped.  Again  the  Japanese  were  brought  in, 
and  the  region  now  flows  with  milk  and  honey. 

In  Washington,  Oregon,  Idaho,  and  in  almost  every 
State  where  the  Japanese  engage  in  agriculture,  it  is 
the  same  story.1 

Miss  Alice  M.  Brown,  of  Florin,  writes  in 
Collier's  Weekly: 

Adjoining  my  home  is  eighty  acres  which  for  all 
these  years  had  never  been  touched  by  a  plough — 
so  sloughy  and  shallow  was  the  land  that  the  white 
men  set  it  aside  as  fit  only  for  a  pasture.  The  Japan- 
ese turned  it  into  the  most  beautiful  vineyard  and 
strawberry  patches,  and  where  the  poorest  of  the  poor 
soil  lay  is  the  finest  berry  patch  in  this  vicinity.     Neat 

1  Asia  at  the  Door,  by  K.  K.  Kawakami,  pp.  107-108. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     155 

little  homes  dot  that  once  barren  tract,  and  are 
occupied  by  as  good  and  kindly  neighbours  (Japanese) 
as  one  could  ever  wish  to  have. 

Perhaps  the  complaint  made  oftenest  against 
the  Japanese  in  California  previous  to  the  passage 
of  the  anti- Japanese  land  law  in  1913  (the  law 
prohibiting  the  Japanese  from  acquiring  title  to 
land  or  real  property),  and  indeed,  the  complaint 
chiefly  instrumental  in  causing  the  enactment  of 
that  law,  was  that  they  (the  Japanese)  were 
getting  possession  of  a  dangerously  large  quantity 
of  land,  and  thus  were  " crowding  out"  the 
"white"  population  of  the  State.  The  popular 
cry  was:  "They  are  taking  our  farms."1 

1  We  are  not  unfrequently  told  that  the  Japanese  have  no 
right  to  ask  the  United  States  to  allow  them  to  own  any  land 
here,  because  Americans  are  not  permitted  to  own  land  in  Japan. 
This  reasoning  would  not  be  fair  even  if  the  statement  regarding 
land-owning  in  Japan  were  true — as  it  is  not.  For  Japan  is  a 
full  and  over-full  country,  which  does  not  and  can  not  invite 
immigrants  from  other  nations;  so  that,  even  if  it  refused  to  sell 
land  to  foreigners  it  would  be  abundantly  justified  because  it 
has  not  enough  for  its  own  people.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have 
vast  areas  of  land  that  are  not  in  use.  We  invite  immigrants 
freely  from  foreign  countries;  and  to  nearly  all  of  them  we  sell 
land  without  any  restriction  or  question.  But  to  the  Japanese 
we  say:  "No!  you  are  an  exception;  we  will  sell  land  to  the  rest, 
but  not  to  you."  This  discrimination  against  the  Japanese  is 
what  wounds  his  feelings.  And  is  it  any  wonder?  Let  us 
imagine  the  Japanese  Government  selling  land  to  people  of  other 


156  RISING  JAPAN 

As  a  fact  how  much  "crowding  out"  are  the 
Japanese  in  California  actually  doing?  How 
much  land  have  they  possession  of  ? 

According  to  the  Year  Book  published  by  the 
Japanese  American  of  San  Francisco,  in  the  year 
1912,  they  owned  in  the  State  31,814  acres,  and 
leased  225,046  acres.  The  total  area  of  California 
is  101,351,000  acres.  This  means  that  one  acre 
out  of  every  3185  was  owned  by  them  and  one 
out  of  every  450  was  leased  by  them. 

Do  these  figures  indicate  that  the  Japanese 
were  driving  out  the  white  population  and  getting 
possession  of  the  State?  I  will  not  venture  to 
answer  this  question  myself,  but  will  give  the 
reply  made  by  a  California  editor  of  the  time. 
This  editor,  who  had  the  advantage  of  living  on 
the  spot,  declared  emphatically  and  with  fine 
scorn  of  any  one  who  thought  to  the  contrary, 
that  the  figures  meant  peril,  peril  awful  and 
imminent.     To    prove    his    contention    he    per- 

nations  but  refusing  to  sell  to  Americans;  would  we  not  feel  the 
discrimination  as  an  insult?  As  a  fact,  notwithstanding  her 
very  limited  area,  Japan  passed  a  law  in  1910  allowing  the  sale 
of  land  to  any  foreigner  whose  country  reciprocates  by  granting 
the  privilege  of  land  purchase  to  Japanese.  If  then  the  in- 
habitants of  any  American  State  cannot  buy  land  in  Japan  it  is 
only  because  their  State  refuses  to  grant  the  same  privilege  to 
persons  born  in  Japan. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     157 

formed  the  arduous  but  patriotic  duty  of  esti- 
mating the  exact  time  it  would  take  for  the 
Japanese  to  become  masters  of  the  entire  State 
and  crowd  out  all  Americans  and  Europeans. 
I  quote  his  words : 

The  statistics  recently  gathered  show  the  dread 
extent  of  the  Japanese  invasion  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Their  insidious,  silent  and  secret  advance  into  this 
country  has  long  been  going  on.  At  the  rate  at  which 
they  have  been  grabbing  land  in  California  for  the 
past  ten  years,  they  will  actually  obtain  possession  of 
the  entire  State  in  84,450  years  and  a  few  months. 
Thus  it  is  plain  to  the  dullest  comprehension  that  the 
peril  is  imminent.  Unless  the  people  rouse  themselves 
without  delay  this  swift  advance  will  mean  the  de- 
struction of  the  country  within  less  than  844  centuries ! 
In  view  of  this  startling  condition  of  things,  there  is 
only  one  thing  to  be  done.  We  must  enact  at  once, 
without  a  day's  postponement,  the  most  drastic  laws, 
either  to  drive  the  Japanese,  every  mother's  son  of 
them,  out  of  the  country,  bag  and  baggage,  or  else 
absolutely  to  prohibit  them  from  even  owning  or 
leasing  another  acre  or  another  inch  of  California's 
sacred  soil. 

Well,  the  State  " protected* '  itself  by  prohibit- 
ing them  from  owning  any  more  land! 

I  have  introduced  this  fine  bit  of  Pacific  Coast 
humour  (or  sarcasm)  because  it  throws  so  much 
light  upon  the  situation.     And  now  let  me  say 


158  RISING  JAPAN 

for  myself  and  in  earnest,  that  what  California 
really  needed  then  and  what  she  needs  now,  was 
not  and  is  not  the  prevention  of  industrious 
Japanese  from  obtaining  small  areas  of  land,  here 
and  there,  *  many  of  them  of  the  poorest  quality, 
and  by  their  intelligence  and  industry  turning 
them  into  perfect  gardens  of  productiveness,  thus 
benefiting  the  whole  State;  but  her  real  need 
was,  and  is,  the  infinitely  more  important  preven- 
tion of  rich  American  and  English  land-sharks 
from  seizing  whole  townships  and  whole  counties, 
and  holding  them,  largely  out  of  use,  for  purely 
speculative  purposes.  The  fact  is,  single  land 
companies  and  single  individual  speculators  hold 
in  their  possession,  for  ends  of  the  most  selfish 
character,  and  hostile  to  the  interests  of  the  public, 
larger  amounts  of  California  soil  than  the  com- 
bined area  of  all  the  land  owned  and  all  the  land 
leased  by  all  the  Japanese  in  the  State.  These 
great  land  monopolists  and  land  speculators  are 
California's  real  foes — these  and  not  the  small 


1  There  are  a  few  cases  of  Japanese  carrying  on  agricultural 
or  horticultural  operations  on  a  large  scale,  as,  for  example,  that 
of  George  Shima,  the  "Potato  King";  but  the  great  majority  are 
in  financial  condition  to  own  or  lease  only  small  areas,  which  they 
cultivate  intensively  and  thus  soon  raise  to  a  high  degree  of 
fertility. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA    159 

farmers,  the  hard-working  market  gardeners  and 
the  skilful  orchardists,  who,  though  born  in 
Japan,  are  loyal  to  California,  and  are  doing  so 
much  to  make  her  waste  places  to  bud  and  blossom 
as  the  rose. 


CHAPTER  XII 

the  menace  of  japan  in  California  (Continued) 

Are  the  Japanese  in  California  a  Local  Danger? 
Are  They  a  National  Danger  ? 

In  the  session  of  191 3  of  the  Legislature  of 
California  no  less  than  thirty -four  bills  were  intro- 
duced, all  aiming  at  limiting  the  rights  or  privi- 
leges of  the  Japanese,  many  of  which  rights  and 
privileges  were,  in  the  judgment  of  high  legal 
authorities,  either  clearly  or  inferentially  guaran- 
teed to  them  by  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan. * 

1  These  thirty-four  bills — fourteen  in  the  Senate  and  twenty 
in  the  House — classified  by  their  respective  natures,  fell  under 
the  following  seven  heads: 

1.  Bills  prohibiting  Japanese  from  acquiring  title  to  land  or 
real  property. 

2.  Bills  increasing  the  license  fee  of  Japanese  fishermen  from 
$10  to  $100  a  year. 

3.  Bills  providing  for  the  segregation  of  Japanese  school 
children. 

4.  Bills  forbidding  the  issuance  of  liquor  licenses  to  Japanese. 

5.  Bills  prohibiting  Japanese  from  employing  white  women 
in  any  form  of  service. 

160 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA    161 

How  is  this  attitude  of  hostility  to  be  accounted 
for?  I  have  lived  in  California  and  thus  have 
some  personal  knowledge  of  the  State,  and. I  am 
convinced  that  it  does  not  truly  represent  a 
majority  of  the  California  people,  certainly  not 
the  great  body  of  the  more  intelligent,  influential, 
and  responsible. 

I  am  convinced  that  most  or  all  of  the  anti- 
Japanese  agitation  has  been  artificially  worked 
up  by  a  comparatively  small  minority  of  the 
people,  for  selfish  ends — ends  partly  social,  partly 


6.  Bills  forbidding  the  Japanese  to  use  power  engines. 

7.  Bills  placing  a  special  poll  tax  upon  the  Japanese. 

It  is  true  that  in  most  cases  these  bills  did  not  openly  attack 
the  Japanese  by  using  the  Japanese  name.  Generally  the  indirect 
phrase  "aliens  not  eligible  to  citizenship"  was  employed;  but  the 
attack  was  just  as  real,  and  the  discrimination  act  just  as  galling 
and  just  as  humiliating. 

While  these  bills  were  before  the  Legislature  the  friends  of 
the  Japanese  tried  in  vain  to  get  adequate  hearings,  while  every 
enemy  and  every  re  viler  of  them  was  given  abundant  time. 
During  the  debate  in  the  Senate,  Senator  Wright  arose  and 
declared:  "You  are  all  playing  politics,  dirty,  cheap  politics; 
you  all  know  you  are,  and  you  don't  dare  deny  it. "  The  San 
Francisco  Argonaut  said  of  the  land  bill:  "It  is  just  a  bit  of 
cheap  political  buncombe,  meaningless  and  ineffective  in  itself, 
useful  only  in  that  it  may  help  somebody  to  get  votes  under 
pretense  of  being  a  Japanese  baiter. "  For  a  full  and  candid 
description  of  the  way  in  which  the  campaign  against  the  Jap- 
anese was  carried  on  in  the  Legislature,  see  Mr.  K.  K.  Kawakami's 
Asia  at  the  Door,  Chapter  IX. 


162  RISING  JAPAN 

economic,  but  largely  political.  There  are  few 
examples  in  American  history  of  more  blind, 
partisan,  unscrupulous  legislation  than  that 
against  the  Japanese  in  19 13.  The  best  people 
of  the  State  tried  to  prevent  it,  seeing  how  unjust 
it  was  to  the  Japanese,  and  how  injurious  it  would 
be  certain  to  prove  to  the  commonwealth.  Presi- 
dent Wilson  tried  to  prevent  it,  and  went  so  far 
as  to  send  his  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Bryan,  to 
California,  to  expostulate  with  the  Legislature, 
and  to  point  out  to  them  how  seriously  it  would 
interfere  with  the  diplomatic  relations  between 
the  national  government  and  Japan.  It  was 
almost  universally  condemned  throughout  the 
country.  Says  Mr.  Kawakami,  the  distinguished 
Japanese  writer : 

Seldom  during  my  thirteen  years'  residence  in  the 
United  States  have  I  seen  the  true  greatness  of 
the  American  nation  so  vividly  demonstrated  as  on  the 
occasion  of  the  land  legislation  in  California.  The 
majority  of  American  newspapers  and  of  fair-minded 
Americans  turned  a  solid  phalanx  to  the  California 
legislators  and  denounced  their  selfishness  and  bigotry. 
Would  that  the  Japanese  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Pacific  could  have  seen  this  imposing  spectacle!" 

Perhaps  no  one  has  given  a  better  description 
of   the   political   conditions   in   California  which 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     163 

have  made  the  anti-Japanese  legislation  possible 
than  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Fay  Mills.  Two  years 
ago,  after  a  residence  of  sixteen  years  in  the  State, 
Mr.  Mills  said: 


The  antipathy  felt  in  California  toward  the  Japan- 
ese would  be  obliterated  in  a  single  day  if  the  or- 
ganized trades  would  admit  them  to  their  unions. 

The  proposition  to  pass  laws  discriminating  against 
the  Japanese  is  due  to  our  party  system  of  government. 
There  is  a  sufficiently  strong  minority  in  California 
who  have  anti-Asiatic  prejudices  to  cause  all  political 
parties  to  bid  for  their  votes ;  this  minority,  organized 
in  the  unions  and  among  the  small  farmers,  is  able 
to  make  itself  felt  in  legislation.  The  anti- Japanese 
legislation  enacted  by  the  influence  of  this  organized 
anti-Japanese  minority,  if  it  were  submitted  to  a 
referendum  vote  of  the  people  of  the  State,  would  be 
voted  down. 

The  Japanese  problem  in  California  is  due  to  the 
intense  bigotry  of  a  certain  class.  It  indicates  a 
state  of  evolution.  The  California  people  are  among 
the  noblest  and  most  generous  in  the  world.  In 
regard  to  most  things  they  are  anything  but  narrow  or 
bigoted  or  unjust.  This  regrettable  prejudice  against 
the  Japanese  entertained  by  a  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion does  not  represent  the  State  as  a  whole ,  or  the 
most  intelligent  minds  of  the  State.  It  cannot  last. 
We  in  California  need  what  the  Japanese  can  con- 
tribute to  us,  and  they  need  what  we  can  contribute 
to  them.     It  is  simply  a  case  calling  for  a  better 


i64  RISING  JAPAN 

understanding  of  each  nation  by  the  other,  for  large- 
mindedness  and  for  vast  patience. * 

It  should  be  understood  once  for  all  that  the 
question  at  issue  between  Japan  and  this  country 
is  not  that  of  the  admission  of  more  Japanese 
immigrants  to  our  shores  (the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment does  not  ask  for  more  admissions) ;  it  is  that 
of  "safe-guarding  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
Japanese  who  are  already  lawfully  here." 

"The  whole  trouble  is  our  discriminatory  legis- 
lation"; our  legislation  which  treats  the  Japanese 
as  an  inferior  class ;  which  denies  to  them  privileges 
and  rights  which  are  freely  granted  to  other  foreign- 
born  persons  who  have  taken  up  their  residence 
among  us. 2 

1  Address  before  the  Twentieth  Century  Club,  Boston. 

2  We  are  often  told  that  on  account  of  her  large  and  growing 
population  Japan  seeks,  and  must  seek,  an  opportunity  to  over- 
flow into  America.  The  facts  are,  she  has  much  less  need  o?  a 
chance  to  overflow  in  any  direction  than  many  suppose.  If  she 
can  develop  her  manufactures  and  her  foreign  trade  to  anything 
like  the  extent  that  she  hopes,  she  will  be  able  easily  to  support 
her  people  for  a  long  time  to  come.  Furthermore,  the  direction 
in  which  she  desires  expansion,  and  is  urging  such  of  her  people 
to  migrate  as  desire  to  leave  the  home  land,  is  not  far-away 
America,  but  near-by  Formosa,  Korea,  Manchuria  and  Mongolia, 
where  the  people  are  more  nearly  related  to  her  own,  where  con- 
ditions are  more  nearly  like  those  of  Japan,  where  there  are  vast 
undeveloped  resources  of  land  and  mines,  and  where  her  migrants 
would  not  be  lost  to  her  as  would  be  the  case  if  they  came  to  this 
country. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA     165 

The  position  of  Japan  has  been  clearly  stated  by 
Baron  Shibusawa.  Says  that  distinguished  rep- 
resentative of  Japan: 

The  only  question  outstanding  between  Japan  and 
America  is  the  status  of  Japanese  who  have  been 
lawfully  admitted  into  the  country.  The  question  of 
Japanese  immigration  is  no  longer  under  consideration ; 
that  question  was  disposed  of  several  years  ago  by 
the  formation  of  the  so-called  "Gentleman's  Agree- 
ment." The  stipulations  of  that  compact  are  being 
rigidly  enforced  by  the  Japanese  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, so  that  no  labourer  is  under  any  circumstances 
allowed  to  leave  Japan  for  America.  Naturally  the 
Japanese  people  do  not  like  being  denied  entrance 
into  the  United  States,  while  all  races  from  Europe 
are  welcomed  with  open  arms.  But  the  honour  of 
Japan  has  been  pledged  under  a  solemn  agreement 
and  no  patriotic  Japanese  ever  dreams  of  breaking  his 
plighted  word.  Even  the  Japanese  jingo  press  does 
not  demand  free  admission  to  America  of  our  labour 
immigration.  So  that  question  has  been  definitely 
gotten  out  of  the  way,  and  the  only  cause  of  complaint 
on  our  part  is  the  discriminatory  legislation  against 
Japanese  who  have  already  been  admitted  into  the 
American  Republic. 

Japan  has  attained  a  recognized  place  among 
the  first-class  nations  of  the  world.  Her  civiliza- 
tion is  essentially  on  a  level  with  our  own.  Is  it 
strange  therefore  that  she  chafes  at  finding  us 


166  RISING  JAPAN 

treating  her  people  in  ways  in  which  we  would 
not  think  of  treating  Englishmen  or  Frenchmen  or 
Italians,  or  Poles  or  Portuguese,  or  even  Ice- 
landers or  immigrants  from  the  most  backward 
Balkan  states,  or  from  Turkey?  We  ought  to 
honour  her  for  the  self-respecting  stand  that  she 
takes.  We  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  be  willing  for 
a  moment  to  consent  to  any  treatment  of  her 
people  that  is  of  a  nature  to  wound  or  humiliate 
either  them  or  her. 

In  1 91 6,  when  the  Burnett  Immigration  Bill, 
proposing  racial  discrimination  against  the  Jap- 
anese, was  before  Congress,  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment sent  to  our  Government  a  respectful  but 
very  earnest  protest.  The  grounds  of  the  protest 
were  that  Japan  is  not  willing  to  have  any  legisla- 
tion enacted  by  the  United  States  which  will  dis- 
criminate against  the  Japanese  as  an  inferior 
people,  that  is,  which  will  virtually  say  to  the 
world,  that  we  regard  them  as  unworthy  of  certain 
rights  and  privileges  which  we  grant  to  other 
nations.  The  Japanese  feel  that  such  legislation 
•would  be  a  violation  of  our  treaties,  which  guaran- 
tee to  them  equality  of  treatment  with  other 
nations.  They  also  feel  that  it  would  put  a 
stigma  upon  them  which  no  nation  ought  to  be 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA    167 

willing  to  put  upon  another.  Japan  is  willing 
to  let  her  "Gentleman's  Agreement"  stand,  in 
which  she  promises  of  her  own  free  will  to  prevent 
(and  does  prevent)  her  labourers  from  coming  to 
this  country.  That  involves  no  national  humilia- 
tion on  her  part.  But  to  have  the  Agreement 
enacted  into  law  by  our  Government,  and  thus  to 
have  her  labourers,  no  matter  how  intelligent 
and  superior,  forbidden  entrance,  while  labourers 
from  every  European  country,  little  matter  how 
ignorant  or  undesirable,  are  freely  welcomed,  this 
would  be  felt  by  her  to  be  humiliating  in  a  very 
high  degree.  And  the  sting  of  it  would  be  pecu- 
liarly keen  because  coming  from  the  United  States, 
whose  justice  and  fairness  she  has  always  trusted 
and  whose  friendship  she  has  always  so  highly 
prized. 

In  the  words  of  Mr.  Chugo  Chira,  of  the  East 
and  West  News  Bureau  : 

While  Japan  might  voluntarily  enter  into  an 
agreement  to  prevent  immigration  to  America  (as 
she  actually  has  done)  without  sacrificing  her  honour, 
she  might  not  see  her  way  clear  to  quiet  acceptance 
of  a  law  aimed  directly  at  her,  proclaiming  the  in- 
feriority of  her  people.  This  is  touching  the  Japanese 
nation  in  its  tenderest  spot.  Ever  since  Japan  became 
a  factor  in  civilization   she  has  struggled  to   gain 


168  RISING  JAPAN 

admission  to  the  family  of  nations  as  their  equal. 
This  has  been  her  ambition :  she  believes  it  an  honour- 
able one.  She  has  now  reached  a  stage  where,  without 
disturbing  other  nations,  she  believes  she  may  ask 
her  equality  to  be  recognized.  And  now  the  American 
Congress  proposes  to  exclude  her  citizens  from  this 
country  by  law.  I  am  very  much  afraid  that  this 
evidence  of  what  will  be  considered  by  Japanese  as 
America's  contempt  for  them,  will  have  an  unhappy 
result. 

On  the  same  subject,  Count  Okuma,  at  that 
time  Premier  of  Japan,  is  quoted  {New  York  Times, 
June  1 8,  1 91 6)  as  uttering  the  following  candid 
and  friendly  but  very  earnest  words: 

No  one  among  us  is  satisfied  with  the  attitude  of 
racial  discrimination  against  us  in  the  United  States. 
We  believe  that  we  are  not  foolishly  sentimental  about 
it,  but  we  are  not  content.  If  you  ask  me  what  we 
want,  then  I  must  say  frankly,  that  we  want  equal 
treatment  with  the  European  nations.  We  want  to 
see  the  United  States  do  the  fair  and  just  thing;  and 
to  do  it  not  under  pressure,  but  of  its  own  free  accord. 
And  we  cannot  but  believe  that  by  and  by  America 
will  come  to  understand  us,  and  will  cease  to  uphold 
an  anti- Japanese  prejudice. 

How  is  it  possible  for  any  fair-minded  American 
to  deny  that  the  Japanese  are  right  in  their 
feeling?    We   ought   to   honour   them   for   their 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA    169 

unwillingness  to  be  discriminated  against,  to  be 
branded  before  the  world  as  an  inferior  people. 
We  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  desire  to  put  such  an 
indignity  upon  any  honourable,  friendly  nation. 

The  hostile  treatment  accorded  to  the  Japanese 
in  California  and,  to  some  extent,  in  other  Pacific 
Coast  States,  does  harm  in  several  ways. 

1.  It  fosters  a  bitter  feeling  among  the  people 
of  those  States.  Certain  numbers  of  Japanese  are 
already  there,  even  if  the  numbers  are  small. 
They  have  been  legally  admitted ;  they  are  engaged 
in  various  kinds  of  honest,  productive  business 
and  labour;  they  have  a  right  to  stay;  nobody 
seriously  proposes  to  drive  them  out.  It  is  a  pity 
to  have  prejudices  and  ill  feelings  stirred  up  be- 
tween them  and  their  American  neighbours,  by 
the  side  of  whom  they  must  live  and  with  whom 
they  must  do  business  and  in  many  ways  associate. 
They  want  to  be  friendly.  It  is  infinitely  better 
for  the  " white"  people  to  meet  them  everywhere 
in  a  friendly  spirit. 

2.  Hostile  treatment  carried  to  the  extent  of 
barring  out  Japanese  immigration  strikes  a  blow 
at  the  industrial  development  of  these  States. 
All  the  States  have  vast  areas  of  land  and  vast 
resources,    mining   and   other,    which   are   unde- 


170  RISING  JAPAN 

veloped.  All  greatly  need  labour.  All  are  seeking 
it  through  immigration.  Why  the  folly  of  volun- 
tarily cutting  off  a  class  of  immigrants  that  are 
among  the  most  intelligent,  industrious,  trust- 
worthy, law-abiding,  and  economically  valuable 
that  are  available  for  this  country?  Of  course  for 
the  safety  of  our  institutions  all  immigration 
should  be  guarded.  No  more  immigrants  from 
any  foreign  country  should  be  admitted  than  we 
can  assimilate  and  transform  into  real  Americans. 
This  applies  to  immigrants  from  Europe  as  well 
as  to  those  from  Asia.  But  having  guarded  care- 
fully against  going  beyond  certain  reasonable 
limitations,  why  should  not  all  our  States  which  are 
eagerly  welcoming  immigrants  from  other  direc- 
tions, some  of  them  distinctly  less  desirable,  also 
welcome  immigrants  from  Japan? 

3.  All  treatment  of  the  Japanese  in  California 
or  in  any  other  State,  that  is  felt  by  them  or  by 
the  Japanese  Government  to  be  prejudiced,  unfair, 
unjust,  or  humiliating,  tends  to  create  estrange- 
ment between  two  nations  that  are  neighbours, 
that  must  remain  neighbours,  and  that  ought  to 
be  fast  friends.  This  is  a  serious  matter,  which 
no  one  of  our  States  in  framing  its  laws  or  shaping 
its   policies   should   ever   allow   itself   to   forget. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA    171 

Every  State  is  a  part  of  the  larger  nation.  Its 
interests  are  bound  up  with  those  of  the  nation. 
If  ever  it  permits  itself  to  engage  in  any  act  or  to 
pursue  any  policy  which  tends  to  tarnish  the 
nation's  good  name  or  to  imperil  its  peace,  it  does 
not  only  a  short-sighted  but  a  distinctly  disloyal 
and  dangerous  thing. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    SOLUTION    OF    THE    JAPANESE    QUESTION    IN 
CALIFORNIA 

I.     National  Control  of  Immigration 
II.     A  New  and  Better  Immigration  Law 

What  is  necessary  in  order  to  heal  the  sores  that 
have  been  created  by  our  treatment  of  the  Japanese 
in  California  (and  in  several  other  States),  and  to 
build  up  mutual  good  feeling  and  confidence 
between  Japan  and  this  country? 

Before  answering  this  question  let  me  speak  a 
word  of  hope._  The  situation  does  not  seem  to  be 
growing  worse.  Indeed,  there  are  distinct  signs 
that  it  is  beginning  to  grow  better.  Of  course  the 
fact  that  Japan  is  now  our  ally  in  war  tends 
strongly  to  create  a  friendly  feeling  toward  her 
as  a  nation.  But  before  she  entered  the  war  a 
change  was  beginning  to  be  manifest.  For  two  or 
three  years  there  have  been  growing  indications 
that  in  California  the  old  antagonisms  are  soften- 

172 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  173 

ing,  and  that  many  persons  are  beginning  to  look 
with  favour  upon  the  Japanese  who  formerly  did 
not.  It  seems  practically  certain  that  the  anti- 
Japanese  legislation  of  19 13  could  not  now  be 
enacted. 

What  is  especially  encouraging  is  that  a  better 
feeling  is  springing  up  between  Japanese  and 
native  labour.  In  the  summer  of  19 15  two  repre- 
sentatives came  from  Japan  to  California  to  attend 
the  state  and  national  meetings  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labour.  They  visited  the  leading 
cities  of  the  State  and  spoke  at  the  Central  Labour 
Councils,  making  everywhere  an  excellent  im- 
pression. It  was  a  remarkable  event,  which 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  labour  organizations  to  the 
fact  that  the  interests  of  labour  are  one;  that 
California  has  more  than  enough  work  for  all; 
that  native  and  Japanese  labourers  only  injure 
themselves  and  the  State  by  righting  each  other; 
that  what  is  needed  by  all  is  good  feeling,  fair 
play,  and  co-operation.  In  the  autumn  of  191 6, 
at  the  meeting  of  the  California  State  Federation 
of  Labour,  several  resolutions  were  presented  by 
local  unions  actually  asking  permission  to  accept 
Japanese  members  in  their  unions. 

There  are  other  indications  of  increasing  good 


174  RISING  JAPAN 

feeling  between  the  two  races.  A  Japanese 
instructor  in  a  public  institution  in  California 
writes  in  a  private  letter : 

Yes,  we  are  getting  along  here  much  better  than  we 
used  to.  It  is  a  long  time  since  the  boys  have  thrown 
stones  at  us.  A  striking  change  has  become  evident 
in  our  opportunities  at  the  public  tennis  courts. 
Four  or  five  years  ago  we  had  no  chance  at  all  if 
Americans  wanted  to  play.  But  now  we  get  a  fair 
chance  with  the  rest.     It's  fine. 

In  all  parts  of  the  State  the  Japanese  have  been 
showing  their  American  spirit  and  their  loyalty 
to  the  nation  by  their  ready  and  even  eager  invest- 
ments in  Liberty  Loan  Bonds  and  by  their  really 
remarkably  generous  gifts  to  the  Red  Cross. 
Since  our  declaration  of  war  with  Germany,  the 
English-speaking  Japanese  of  the  State  have 
organized  and  equipped  a  regiment  of  trained 
volunteers  which  they  have  offered  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  serve  patriotically  and  loyally  under  the 
United  States  flag  wherever  sent. 

These  facts,  and  others  similar  which  might  be 
given,  would  seem  to  be  a  clear  sign  that  a  new 
era  in  the  relations  of  Americans  and  Japanese  is 
dawning  in  California;  and  if  in  California  then 
may  we  not  hope  elsewhere,  sooner  or  later?     I 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  175 

say  "dawning";  that  is  hopeful,  but  before  the 
full  day  can  come  much  must  be  done. 

To  remove  the  irritation  which  has  been  en- 
gendered by  our  treatment  of  the  Japanese  in  the 
past,  to  prevent  irritation  in  the  future,  and  to 
create  permanent  relations  of  friendship  between 
the  two  nations,  two  things  are  needed. 

1.  The  first  is,  such  Federal  legislation  as  will 
give  the  National  Government  control  of  aliens. 

It  has  been  a  weakness  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment from  the  beginning  that  the  Constitution  did 
not  expressly  make  treaties  with  foreign  nations 
binding  upon  the  States.  As  the  situation  now  is, 
the  President  may  negotiate  a  treaty  with  a 
foreign  government  in  which  protection  of  the 
rights  of  its  citizens  coming  to  this  country  is  duly 
guaranteed.  But  when  those  citizens  of  that 
foreign  nation  arrive,  the  State  in  which  they 
locate  may  enact  laws  depriving  them  of  those 
rights;  and  our  National  Government  is  helpless. 
The  foreign  government  calls  the  attention  of  the 
President  to  the  fact  that  its  citizens  have  had 
their  rights  violated  on  our  soil,  and  asks  for 
redress.    The  President  replies: 

I  am  sorry;  but  the  dual  form  of  our  Government, 
and  the  fact  that  the  Constitution  does  not  forbid 


176  RISING  JAPAN 

States  from  making  laws  contravening  national 
treaties,  tie  my  hands.  I  can  do  nothing.  There  is 
no  redress  for  you.  You  cannot  seek  redress  from  the 
offending  State  because  you  can  have  no  dealing  with 
any  of  our  States,  but  only  with  the  National  Govern- 
ment; and  the  National  Government  is  powerless  in 
the  case,  as  I  have  explained. 

Can  we  conceive  of  the  Executive  of  a  great 
nation  being  placed  in  a  more  humiliating  position  ? 
And  yet  this  is  virtually  the  position  in  which 
President  Wilson  stands  today,  and  in  which  every 
President  stands  all  the  while,  so  long  as  this 
anomalous  condition  of  things,  this  anomalous 
relation  between  the  Federal  Government  and 
the  individual  States,  is  allowed  to  continue. 
President  Wilson  is  not  the  first  Chief  Executive 
that  has  been  brought  into  trouble  by  it.  President 
Harrison  found  himself  in  a  similar  predicament. 
During  his  administration  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment found  it  impossible  to  take  steps  to  punish 
those  guilty  of  the  "Mafia  lynchings"  (the  lynch- 
ings  of  eleven  Italians  in  New  Orleans,  March  14, 
1 891),  because  it  was  held  that  the  statutes  of 
Louisiana  should  govern  the  case.  The  situation 
between  our  National  Government  and  the 
Italian  Government  became  so  strained  over  the 
matter  that  diplomatic  relations  were  severed. 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  177 

What  is  needed  to  prevent  such  serious  compli- 
cations from  arising  at  any  time  between  the 
United  States  and  other  governments?  What  is 
needed  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  serious  trouble 
developing  between  us  and  Japan  over  the  Cali- 
fornia situation — that  is,  over  the  fact  that  the 
California  Legislature  has  enacted  legislation 
which  seems  to  contravene  a  Federal  treaty? 

At  a  meeting  of  distinguished  clergymen  and 
laymen  of  this  country  and  of  missionaries  from 
the  Orient,  held  in  New  York  in  September,  191 6, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  World  Alliance  and  the 
Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  America,  there 
was  a  full  and  careful  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
the  present  condition  of  aliens  in  the  United 
States  and  of  the  helplessness  of  the  National 
Government  to  give  them  adequate  protection 
because  of  the  lack  of  needed  Federal  legislation. 
The  meeting  passed  the  following  resolution 
without  a  dissenting  vote : 

Whereas,  the  American  Bar  Association  has  en- 
dorsed a  bill  (H.  R.  21073)  f°r  an  Act  of  Congress, 
providing  that  "any  act  committed  in  any  State  or 
Territory  of  the  United  States  in  violation  of  the  rights 
of  a  citizen  or  subject  of  a  foreign  country  secured  to 
such  citizen  or  subject  by  treaty  between  the  United 


178  RISING  JAPAN 

States  and  such  foreign  country,  which  act  constitutes 
a  crime  under  the  laws  of  such  State  or  Territory,  shall 
constitute  a  like  crime  against  the  peace  and  dignity 
of  the  United  States,  punishable  in  like  manner  as 
in  the  courts  of  said  State  or  Territory,  and  within  the 
period  limited  by  the  laws  of  such  State  or  Territory, 
and  may  be  prosecuted  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  and,  upon  conviction,  the  sentence  executed 
in  like  manner  as  sentences  upon  conviction  for 
crimes  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Therefore,  Resolved  that  this  Conference  of  men, 
interested  in  the  observance  by  the  United  States  of 
all  its  treaty  obligations  and  responsibilities,  urges 
upon  Congress  the  enactment  of  the  above  law  during 
the  coming  session.1 

1  The  constitutional  question  here  involved,  as  to  the  right  of  a 
State  to  enact  legislation  conflicting  with  treaties  made  between 
the  United  States  and  foreign  governments,  has  been  frequently 
discussed.  It  is  the  view  of  high  legal  authorities  that  such  State 
legislation  is  invalid.  The  arguments  in  support  of  this  view  are 
ably  set  forth  by  Hon.  Frank  B.  Kellogg  in  his  address  as  president 
of  the  American  Bar  Association  delivered  in  Montreal  in  19 13, 
and  he  states  his  conclusion  as  follows:  "I  am  convinced  that 
there  can  be  no  serious  doubt  that  the  Federal  Government  may, 
by  treaty,  define  the  status  of  a  foreign  citizen  within  the  States, 
the  places  where  he  may  travel,  the  business  in  which  he  may 
engage,  the  property  he  may  own,  both  real  and  personal,  and 
the  devolution  of  such  property  upon  his  death;  that  such  a 
treaty  constitutes  the  supreme  law  of  the  land;  and  that  a  state 
law  contravening  such  a  treaty  is  void  and  will  be  so  declared  by 
the  courts  in  a  suitable  action."     {Rep.  Am.  Bar  Ass'n.,  1913, 

P.  3330 

This  view  set  forth  by  Mr.  Kellogg  may  be  correct.  But 
even  if  so,  the  clearest  way  out  of  the  impasse  in  which  the 
National  Government  finds  itself,  would  seem  to  be  the  enaction 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  179 

Unfortunately  the  law  was  not  enacted  during 
that  session.  The  delay  is  greatly  to  be  regretted 
because,  until  we  have  such  a  law,  injustices  to 
aliens  among  us  are  at  any  time  liable  to  arise 
which  the  National  Government  may  not  be  able 
to  correct,  and  which  may  involve  our  nation  in 
serious  difficulties  with  some  foreign  Power. 

How  serious  are  such  possibilities  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  facts: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  bound 
by  numerous  treaties  respecting  the  rights  of 
aliens.  For  example,  the  treaty  of  1871  with 
Italy  contains  the  following  reciprocal  pledges: 

The  citizens  of  each  of  the  high  contracting  parties 
shall  receive  in  the  states  and  territories  of  the  other 
the  most  constant  protection  and  security  for  their 
persons  and  property,  and  shall  enjoy  in  this  respect 
the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  are  or  may  be  granted 
to  the  natives  on  their  submitting  themselves  to  the 
conditions  imposed  upon  the  natives. 

The  personal  and  property  rights  of  aliens  have 
been  repeatedly  violated,  and,  as  a  result,  the 
friendly  relations  existing  between  the  United 
States  and  foreign  countries  have  been  jeopardized. 

of  such  legislation  as  that  suggested  by  the  American  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, described  above. 


1 80  RISING  JAPAN 

Ex-President  Taft  has  given  a  list  of  seventy- 
three  aliens  of  different  nationalities  lynched  or 
murdered  in  other  ways  between  1885  and  19 10,  in 
addition  to  those  who  were  wounded.  Thousands 
have  been  driven  from  their  homes  and  their 
property  destroyed  by  lawless  mobs. 

In  all  these  cases  the  Federal  Government  has 
acknowledged  its  responsibility  by  paying  in- 
demnities, but  it  has  not  been  able  either  to  give 
protection  in  case  of  threatened  danger  or  of 
prosecution  of  those  who  committed  the  crimes, 
owing  to  lack  of  legislation  authorizing  the  Fed- 
eral authorities  to  take  the  needful  actions.  In 
support  of  this  statement  the  words  of  four  recent 
Presidents  are  offered : 

President  Harrison,  just  after  the  Mafia  case 
at  New  Orleans  in  1891,  said:^ 

It  would,  I  believe,  be  entirely  competent  for 
Congress  to  make  offences  against  the  treaty  rights 
of  foreigners  domiciled  in  the  United  States  cognizable 
in  the  Federal  courts.  This  has  not,  however,  been 
done,  and  the  Federal  officers  and  courts  have  no 
power  in  such  cases  to  intervene  either  for  the  protec- 
tion of  a  foreign  citizen  or  for  the  punishment  of  his 
slayers. 

President  McKinley,  in  his  annual  message  of 
December  5,  1899,  used  these  words: 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  181 

For  the  fourth  time  in  the  present  decade  the  ques- 
tion has  arisen  with  the  Government  of  Italy  in  regard 
to  the  lynching  of  Italian  subjects.  The  latest  of 
these  deplorable  events  occurred  at  Tallulah,  Louisiana 
whereby  five  unfortunates  of  Italian  origin  were  taken 
from  jail  and  hanged. 

.  .  .  The  recurrence  of  these  distressing  manifes- 
tations of  blind  mob  fury,  directed  at  dependents  or 
natives  of  a  foreign  country,  suggests  that  the  con- 
tingency has  arisen  for  action  by  Congress  in  the 
direction  of  conferring  upon  the  Federal  courts  juris- 
diction in  this  class  of  international  cases  where  the 
ultimate  responsibility  of  the  Federal  Government 
may  be  involved. 

President  Roosevelt,  in  his  annual  message  of 
December,  1906,  said: 

One  of  the  greatest  embarrassments  attending  the 
performance  of  our  international  obligations  is  the 
fact  that  the  statutes  of  the  United  States  are  entirely 
inadequate.  I  earnestly  recommend  that  the  criminal 
and  civil  statutes  of  the  United  States  be  so  amended 
and  added  to,  as  to  enable  the  President,  acting  for 
the  United  States  Government,  which  is  responsible 
in  our  international  relations,  to  enforce  the  rights  of 
aliens  under  treaties. 

As  has  already  been  said,  the  plain  need  seems 
to  be,  Federal  legislation  giving  the  National 
Government  control  over  all  aliens.  This  is  what 
the  American   Bar   Association   urges.     This   is 


1 82  RISING  JAPAN 

what  President  Taft  desired  during  his  administra- 
tion, and  has  advocated  ever  since.  In  an  address 
delivered  in  Washington,  October  20,  19 14,  he 
declared  that  this  whole  difficulty  of  the  National 
Government  may  be  solved,  and  ought  to  be 
solved,  by 

a  simple  statute  of  a  dozen  lines  enacted  by  Congress, 
giving  to  the  President  the  necessary  authority  to 
institute  proceedings  whereby  foreigners  in  the 
United  States  shall  receive  the  protection  guaranteed 
by  the  treaties  between  this  government  and  the 
nations  to  which  they  bear  allegiance. 

2.  The  second  thing  necessary  in  order  to 
bring  about  an  adjustment  of  the  difficulties 
which  have  arisen  between  us  and  Japan  and  to 
prevent  future  trouble,  is  a  satisfactory  immigra- 
tion policy. 

Immigration  is  a  need  of  this  country,  but  it 
also  is  a  possible  danger.  Every  nation  has  a 
right  to  protect  itself.  For  any  nation  to  throw 
open  its  doors  and  allow  unlimited  and  over- 
whelming numbers  of  people  to  come  in,  whose 
civilization,  race,  language,  customs,  ideals  of 
government  and  ideals  of  life  are  radically  differ- 
ent from  its  own,  would  be  to  commit  suicide.  If 
any  nation  is  to  live  as  a  nation,  preserving  its 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  183 

own  genius  and  carrying  out  the  ideals  of  its 
founders,  it  must  receive  into  itself  only  so  much 
of  immigration  as  it  can  assimilate,  as  it  can 
politically  and  socially  digest  and  make  a  real  part 
of  itself. 

This  is  something  that  the  United  States  in  the 
past  has  not  always  borne  in  mind.     We  have  said : 

Ours  is  a  land  of  freedom;  we  have  plenty  of  terri- 
tory; let  us  welcome  everybody  who  cares  to  come; 
let  ours  be  a  sort  of  land  of  refuge,  a  sort  of  land  of 
promise,  to  the  people  of  all  countries. 

Thus  we  have  made  almost  no  restrictions.  The 
policy  has  not  been  a  safe  one.  Its  result  has 
been,  that  we  have  admitted  many  undesirable 
elements — much  ignorance,  and  not  a  little 
criminality  and  pauperism.  And,  what  is  perhaps 
even  worse,  from  some  countries  we  have  admitted 
immigrants  in  enormous  numbers,  numbers  so 
great  that  it  has  not  been  possible  for  us  properly 
to  assimilate  them.  Settling  in  localities  by 
themselves  they  have  preserved  their  own  foreign 
speech,  established  schools,  churches,  and  associa- 
tions of  their  own  kind,  taken  pains  to  cherish  the 
customs  and  institutions  of  the  lands  from  which 
they  came,  and  thus  have  built  up  in  various  parts 


184  RISING  JAPAN 

of  the  country  numbers  of  essentially  foreign 
communities,  really  un-American  communities, 
communities  in  the  nation  but  not  really  of  it. 
Thus  we  have  come  to  present  to  the  world  the 
spectacle  of  a  great  American  Republic  with  large 
sections  of  territory  sprinkled  over  with  dots  and 
patches  of  little  Ir elands,  little  Polands,  little 
Germanys,  little  Italys,  et  al.  Such  a  condition  of 
things  is  a  peril  to  any  nation. 

This  experience  of  the  older  States  of  the  East 
has  not  been  without  its  effect  upon  the  newer 
States  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  When  they  came 
into  existence  they  possessed  vast  areas  of  un- 
occupied territory.  Their  immediate  and  pressing 
need,  and  a  need  likely  to  continue  indefinitely, 
was  for  immigrants.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
questions  confronted  them: 

What  kind  of  immigration?  and  under  what  condi- 
tions? Shall  we  do  as  our  sister  States  in  the  East 
did  in  their  earlier  days — open  our  gates  to  immi- 
grants coming  from  whatever  source  they  may,  and 
in  whatever  numbers?  If  we  do  this,  what  will  be 
the  result?  The  Eastern  States  front  on  Europe. 
The  immigrants  that  came  to  them  were  Europeans, 
people  of  the  same  race  with  themselves,  of  the  same 
religion  and  the  same  civilization.  We  front  on  Asia. 
The  immigrants  that  naturally  offer  themselves  to  us 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  185 

are  Orientals,  not  only  from  Japan,  but  also  from 
China  with  its  population  of  hundreds  of  millions,  and 
indeed  from  India  with  its  other  hundreds  of  millions. 
These  Oriental  peoples  are  of  a  different  race  from  our 
own,  a  different  religion  and  a  different  civilization. 
If  there  was  danger  in  the  East  in  receiving  too  many 
Europeans,  will  there  not  be  danger,  greater  danger, 
in  the  West,  in  receiving  too  many  of  the  peoples  of 
Asia,  with  the  possibility,  nay  the  certainty,  of  their 
settling  largely  in  groups,  and  thus  creating  large 
numbers  of  communities,  not  only  of  Japanese  but  of 
Chinese  and  Hindus,  who  will  long  remain  unassimi- 
lated,  un-Americanized,  foreign,  only  to  a  limited 
extent  in  sympathy  with  our  institutions  and  our 
ideals,  and  often  antagonistic  to  them? 

I  say  these  are  the  questions  that  have  con- 
fronted the  Pacific  Coast  States  from  the  beginning, 
and  that  confront  them  still.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  they  are  serious. 

What  then  does  the  Pacific  Coast  need? 

Does  it  need  to  exclude  all  Orientals?  No,  not 
any  more  than  the  older  States  have  needed  in  the 
past,  and  need  today,  to  exclude  all  Europeans. 

Says  Dr.  Clay  MacCauley,  whose  knowledge 
of  both  America  and  Japan  is  very  large: 

I  am  confident  that  the  present  American- Japanese 
problem  is  only  the  most  recent  phase  of  the  nation- 
old,    ever    recurring    difficulty    which    has    become 


186  RISING  JAPAN 

prominent  in  America  whenever  newcomers  into  the 
nation  (whether  Irish,  German,  Italian,  Slav,  or 
Japanese)  have  been  numerous  enough  to  be  felt  on 
the  rivalries  and  competitions  of  the  nation's  indus- 
tries and  commerce.  It  should  always  be  remembered 
that  in  this  problem  the  primary  factor,  or  element,  is 
economic,  not  racial.  In  fact,  I  am  confident  that 
were  the  economic  source  of  antagonism  absent  from, 
or  not  acute  in,  the  contact  of  Americans  and  the 
Japanese  immigrants,  the  racial  differences  of  the  two 
peoples  would  not  keep  them  seriously  alien,  at  least 
from  a  friendly  social  intercourse,  even  though  the 
most  intimate  relationships  of  life,  by  preference 
among  both  peoples,  might  not  generally  be  sought. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  Pacific  Coast  anti- Japanese 
agitation  should  receive  earnest  and  intelligent  atten- 
tion throughout  America.  This  attention  should 
have  the  twofold  purpose  of  finding,  first,  an  ade- 
quate relief  for  whatever  real  trouble  threatens,  or  has 
befallen,  the  industries  and  commerce  and  working 
people,  particularly  of  California,  because  of  an  alien 
immigration;  and,  second,  the  determination,  in  find- 
ing the  needed  relief,  to  enact  nothing  which  shall 
work  injustice  to  the  Japanese  as  such.  Anti-racial 
discrimination,  originating  under  the  ideals  pervasive 
in  American  democracy,  has  no  rightful  place  in  the 
legislation  of  the  American  people. 

Of  course  the  right  and  duty  of  self-protection  is 
always  present  both  with  individuals  and  with  com- 
monwealths; but  I  know  of  nothing  in  the  present 
emergency  in  America  which  on  behalf  of  self-pre- 
servation would  justify  an  anti-racial  or  an  anti- 
national  discrimination. 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  187 

Moreover,  beyond  the  demand  of  justice  and  con- 
formity to  the  American  ideals  of  human  relationships, 
lies  the  mighty  present  movement  of  Humanity  as  a 
whole  into  Internationalism.  No  land  can  now  be 
made  a  closed  land  to  the  rest  of  the  world  and  then 
increasingly  prosper.  Not  only,  therefore,  do  Ameri- 
can ideals,  but  also  the  needs  of  America's  further 
prosperous  development,  require  that  the  present 
world-encompassing  internationalism  should  be  uti- 
lized, and  impartially  dealt  with,  in  whatever  may 
be  done  by  Americans  to  guard  and  advance  their 
industrial  and  commercial  welfare.  This  requirement 
would  not  prevent  such  a  revision  of  America's 
immigration  laws  as  would  impose  upon  immigrants 
very  exacting  conditions  in  connection,  for  instance, 
with  health,  freedom  from  crime,  possession  of  a 
certain  amount  of  money  with  certain  intellectual 
culture  and  with  purposed  loyalty  to  the  laws  of  the 
land.  And  along  with  these  conditions  there  might 
be  yet  other  limiting  measures  put  upon  immigrants 
in  order  better  to  guard  existing  industries  and 
commerce  from  serious  disturbance.  Indeed,  any 
strictures  upon  the  entrance  of  aliens  into  the  country 
might  legitimately  be  enacted  except  those  drawn 
from  nationality  or  race.  But  to  introduce  into  the 
immigration  question  discriminations  that  are  purely 
national  and  racial  when  all  other  reasons  for  objec- 
tion are  absent,  cannot  fail  to  produce  interracial  and 
international  alienations  and  bitternesses  which  are 
unnecessary  and  seriously  evil. 

After  many  years  of  acquaintance  with  the  Japanese 
people  I  am  entirely  convinced  that  it  would  not  be 
harmful  to  America  if  Japanese  as  well  as  European 


1 88  RISING  JAPAN 

newcomers  were  permitted,  in  reasonable  numbers, 
to  find  a  place  in  her  industrial  system,  gradually  to 
become  co-labourers  with  the  American  people,  and 
in  time  become  assimilated  into  full  American  citizen- 
ship. x 

The  thought  tnat  intelligent  and  otherwise  well 
qualified  Japanese  ought  to  be  debarred  from  enter- 
ing the  United  States  or  refused  naturalization  as 
citizens,  simply  on  account  of  their  nation  or  race, 
is  an  idea  born  of  ignorance,  insularity  of  outlook, 
and  prejudice.  It  is  not  in  harmony  with  the 
mind  of  the  wisest,  most  broad-minded,  and  most 
truly  patriotic  Americans.  President  Roosevelt 
voiced  a  far  wiser  and  a  far  truer  Americanism 
when  he  wrote  in  his  Message  to  Congress  of 
March,  1906: 

"I  recommend  to  the  Congress  that  an  act  be 
passed  specifically  providing  for  the  naturalization 
of  Japanese  who  come  here  intending  to  become 
American  citizens. "_ 

The  need  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  of  all  the  rest 
of  the  country  is,  a  national  immigration  policy  of 
proper  limitation,  proper  restriction,  shutting  out 
the  morally,  intellectually,  and  physically  unfit 

1  The  American- Japanese  Problem  as  a  Race  Question,  pp.  9~iot 
19-20. 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  189 

of  every  land,  and  admitting  the  fit  from  every 
nation  in  such  numbers  as  shall  be  safe — that  is,  in 
such  numbers  as  we  can  assimilate  and  make  into 
true  Americans,  Americans  intelligent  concerning 
our  national  ideals  and  loyal  to  them. 

Is  it  possible  to  frame  such  a  policy? 

Unhesitatingly  I  answer  Yes.  During  the  past 
three  or  four  years  there  have  been  placed  before 
the  nation  several  drafts  or  outlines  for  a  general 
immigration  law,  which  have  been  formed  by  men 
or  committees  of  large  knowledge,  and  which 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  would  meet  the 
needs  of  all  parts  of  the  country. 

To  one  of  these  I  wish  to  invite  particular 
attention.  It  is  the  plan  proposed  by  Dr.  Sidney 
L.  Gulick,  of  New  York,  formerly  for  many  years 
an  educator  in  Japan,  who  has  a  knowledge  of  the 
Orient  equalled  by  few  men,  and  who  has  given 
the  most  careful  and  extended  study  to  our  whole 
national  immigration  problem,  especially  in  its 
relation  to  California  and  Japan.  The  confidence 
with  which  I  speak  of  Dr.  Gulick's  plan  is  based 
not  simply  upon  my  own  judgment,  but  also  and 
still  more  on  the  fact  that  it  has  received  the 
unqualified  approval  of  nearly  all  the  men  in  this 
country  who  are  best  qualified  to  judge  of  its 


190  RISING  JAPAN 

merits.  What  is  also  of  the  very  highest  import- 
ance, it  would  be  accepted  by  the  Japanese 
Government  as  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
immigration  problem  pending  between  that  nation 
and  our  own. 

Very  briefly  stated  (and  partly  in  his  own 
words),  Dr.  Gulick's  plan  is  as  follows: 

The  Pacific  Coast  States  fear  an  invasion  of 
Asiatic  immigrants,  and  rightly  demand  protec- 
tion from  such  a  danger. 

The  problem  is  how  to  provide  for  both — how  to 
protect  the  Pacific  Coast,  without  resorting  to 
race  discriminatory  legislation,  obnoxious  to  Asia- 
tics because  humiliating. 

The  solution  lies : 

i.  In  the  regulation  of  all  our  immigration — 
all  immigration  into  this  country  from  whatever 
land — on  a  common  principle. 

2.  In  the  adequate  training  of  all  immigrants 
for  citizenship. 

3.  In  the  giving  of  citizenship  to  all  who 
adequately  qualify,  regardless  of  their  race,  or  the 
nation  from  which  they  come. 

This  last  point  is  important,  because  when 
immigrants  have  become  citizens  they  are  then 
practically  safe  from   discriminatory  legislation. 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  191 

By  the  Constitutions  of  all  our  States  all  citizens 
have  equal  rights.  No  State  would  dare  to  single 
out  for  less  favourable  treatment  than  the  rest 
any  one  class  or  section  or  part  of  the  people 
within  its  borders  to  whom  it  had  granted  full 
citizenship.  The  reason  why  the  California  Legis- 
lature dared  even  to  attempt  to  segregate  Japanese 
children  from  others,  and  to  prevent  Japanese 
workmen  from  using  power  engines,  and  to 
demand  from  Japanese  fishermen  ten  times  as 
high  a  license  as  from  others,  and  to  place  a 
special  poll  tax  upon  all  Japanese,  and  to  deny 
to  them  the  privilege  of  buying  and  owning  real 
estate,  was  because  they  were  aliens — they  were 
not  able  to  claim  the  protection  of  citizenship. 

Why  should  there  be  longer  delay  in  extending 
to  the  Japanese  within  our  borders  such  just  and 
reasonable  protection  ?  It  is  gratifying  to  see  that 
many  are  asking  this  question  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  including  California.  In  San  Diego  a 
movement  has  already  been  started,  and  a  society 
has  already  been  formed  called  ''The  American 
Defence  League,"  looking  toward  granting  to  the 
Japanese  of  the  State  who  are  qualified,  full 
American  citizenship.  Many  of  the  most  in- 
fluential men  of  the  State,  like  Judge  Evans  of  the 


192  RISING  JAPAN 

Riverside  Superior  Court  and  President  Scherer 
of  the  Pasadena  Throop  Institute  of  Technology, 
are  urging  that  in  recognition  not  only  of  their 
intellectual  and  industrial  qualifications,  but  also 
of  their  loyalty  and  patriotism  as  shown  in  their 
Red  Cross  activity  and  their  readiness  to  enlist 
under  the  American  flag,  citizenship  should  be 
granted  them. 

Now  that  Japan  has  sent  a  distinguished 
Commission  to  this  country  to  consult  with  our 
Government  regarding  matters  of  peace  and  co- 
operation between  the  two  nations,  is  not  this  an 
opportune  time  for  Americans  to  solve  the  only 
real  cause  of  irritation  felt  by  Japanese  in  regard 
to  American- Japanese  relations?  As  Dr.  Gulick 
has  well  said:1 

Has  not  the  time  come  for  Congress  to  pass  a  lav/ 
providing  that  citizenship  by  naturalization  may  be 
given  to  all  who  qualify,  regardless  of  race?  We 
know  what  Japan  desires.  May  we  not  take  the 
friendly  step  and  grant  the  privilege  wholly  of  our 
own  initiative,  basing  our  action  upon  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  democracy  and  international 
friendship?  In  self -consistency  and  international 
good-neighbourliness,  should  we  not  either  refuse 
citizenship  to  all  non-European  stock,  such  as  Finns, 

1  See  The  Christian  Work,  September  15,  1917. 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  193 

Hungarians,  and  Turks  (none  of  these  are  properly 
Europeans) ,  to  all  Semites  (who  are  racially  Asiatics) , 
to  Mexicans  and  South  Americans  (whose  blood  is  to 
a  greater  or  less  degree  non-European),  and  to  all 
Africans;  or  else  should  we  not  grant  citizenship  to 
every  person  who  qualifies,  regardless  of  race?  Must 
we  not  either  go  forward  or  backward?  At  present 
the  Chinese  are  excluded  from  citizenship  by  a  specific 
Act  of  Congress  (1882),  while  Japanese  are  excluded 
by  a  recent  and  doubtful  interpretation  of  another 
Act  (that  of  1875).  Such  persons  are  not  receiving 
"equal  protection  of  the  laws."  In  order  that  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  properly  carried  out,  should  not 
Congress  forbid  States  from  passing  laws  discriminat- 
ing against  aliens?  Should  not  Congress  at  least 
forbid  States  from  discriminating  between  aliens  of 
different  races?  Should  not  Americans  now  urge 
Congress  promptly  to  amend  the  naturalization  law 
of  1906  by  the  addition  of  a  provision  that  any  alien 
regardless  of  his  race  who  fulfills  the  specified  condi- 
tions, shall  be  naturalized?  This  act  would  be  hailed 
with  joy  by  China  as  well  as  by  Japan.  The  invidious 
and  humiliating  discrimination  would  be  removed 
which  would  give  intense  relief  to  their  wounded  sense 
of  honour.  Its  enactment  would  not  add  one  Chinese 
or  Japanese  to  our  population  nor  bring  any  in- 
jurious result  whatever  to  our  land. 

It  has  been  already  pointed  out  that,  for  safety, 
the  immigrants  from  any  land  should  be  limited 
to  the  number  that  we  can  Americanize.     How 
13 


i94  RISING  JAPAN 

many  will  that  be?  What  rule  should  guide  us? 
This:  Let  the  maximum  permissible  annual 
immigration  from  any  people  (as  the  Japanese, 
the  Italians,  or  any  other)  be  a  definite  per  cent, 
(say  five),  of  the  sum  of  the  American -born 
children  of  that  people,  plus  those  from  that 
people  who  have  already  become  naturalized 
American  citizens. 

In  other  words,  the  proven  capacity  for  genuine 
Americanization  on  the  part  of  those  already  here 
from  any  land,  should  be  our  measure  of  the 
further  immigration  which  we  should  permit  from 
that  land.  Newcomers  make  their  first  contact 
with  America  through  those  already  here  who 
speak  their  language.  The  Americanization, 
therefore,  of  newcomers  from  any  land  depends 
largely  on  the  influence  of  those  already  here  from 
that  land.  The  number  of  newcomers  annually 
admissible  from  any  land,  therefore,  should  be 
closely  dependent  on  the  number  of  those  who 
have  been  here  five  years  or  more,  and  have 
actually  become  American  citizens.  These  know 
the  language,  customs,  and  ideals  of  both  peoples, 
ours  and  theirs,  and  hence  are  qualified  to  help 
those  newly  arriving  to  understand  American 
ways  and  institutions  and  ideals. 


JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA  195 

Perhaps  this  very  brief  sketch  of  Dr.  Gulick's 
plan  is  all  that  is  required  here.  A  full  and  com- 
plete description  of  it  may  be  obtained  from  the 
author. s 

It  only  remains  to  be  added,  that  the  plan  seems 
to  possess  several  very  distinct  and  important 
merits. 

1.  Those  who  have  considered  it  most  care- 
fully almost  unanimously  believe  it  to  be  work- 
able. 

2.  It  is  obviously  fair.  It  discriminates  neither 
for  nor  against  any  people  or  race.  It  will  admit 
Europeans,  as  many  as  we  have  means  to  Ameri- 
canize, but  no  more.  It  will  admit  Japanese 
and  Chinese,  but  only  so  many  as  we  can  Ameri- 
canize. 

3.  It  will  be  safe.  It  will  allow  no  section  of 
the  country  to  be  flooded  with  undesirable  immi- 
grants either  from  Europe  or  Asia. 

4.  It  is  hoped  and  believed  that  it  will  be 
found  satisfactory  to  California  and  the  other 
States  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  as  well  as  to  the  rest 
of  the  country. 

5.  Finally  it  has  the  great  merit  that  it  meets 
the  entirely  just  demand  of  Japan,  that  in  our 

1  Dr.  Gulick's  address  is  105  East  226.  St.,  New  York. 


196  RISING  JAPAN 

legislation  we  shall  not  discriminate  against  her 
people,  but  shall  accord  to  them  the  same  rights 
we  do  to  the  people  of  the  other  great  nations  of 
the  world. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 

Is  There  Danger  of  Japan  Attempting  to  Seize  the 
Philippine  Islands? 

There  are  persons  who  tell  us  that  we  are  in 
danger  of  losing  the  Philippines  at  the  hands  of 
the  Japanese.  Even  some  who  perceive  the  folly 
of  apprehending  an  invasion  of  America,  are  dis- 
posed to  believe  that  Japan  may  be  plotting  to 
seize  our  island  possessions  which  lie  so  much 
nearer  to  her  shores. 

Let  us  try  to  see  just  what  is  the  Philippine 
situation,  and  find  out,  if  we  can,  whether  we  are 
in  danger  in  that  quarter. 

First  of  all,  have  we  any  reason  to  believe  that 
Japan  wants  the  Philippines?  Her  leading  men 
have  said  numberless  times  that  she  does  not. 
The  location  of  the  islands  is  in  the  tropics.  But 
the  Japanese  people  are  accustomed  to  a  temperate 

197 


198  RISING  JAPAN 

climate,  and  do  not  like  a  tropical.  So  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  they  would  not  go  to  the 
Philippines  in  any  considerable  numbers  to  settle 
even  if  the  nation  possessed  them.  They  have 
far  better  opportunities  in  Korea  and  Manchuria. 
But  if  there  were  little  or  no  settlement  of  Japanese 
in  the  Philippines,  what  benefit  could  Japan 
derive  from  them.  If  they  have  been  an  expense 
to  the  United  States,  could  they  be  anything  else 
but  an  expense  to  her? 

Again:  Could  Japan  take  them  from  us  by 
force,  even  if  she  wanted  to  ?  Of  course  she  would 
first  have  to  sink  our  fleet,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  from  two  to  three  times  as  strong  as  her  own. 
Furthermore,  the  islands  are  strongly  fortified; 
the  fortifications  which  we  have  built  on  Corregi- 
dor,  guarding  Manila  Bay,  are  among  the  most 
perfect  and  powerful  in  the  world. 

And  even  if  by  some  sudden  stroke  she  were 
able  to  capture  Manila,  the  capital  city,  that  would 
mean  little,  for  she  would  still  have  before  her  the 
gigantic  task  of  subduing  the  islands,  in  which 
undertaking  she  would  be  compelled  to  fight  not 
only  the  United  States  but  the  whole  Filipino 
people.  After  her  long  and  trying  experience  in 
Formosa  we  may  be  sure  that  she  will  not  be  eager 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES  199 

to  attempt  the  same  kind  of  thing  on  a  larger 
scale  in  the  Philippines. 

But  the  main  thing  is  that  whether  she  were 
able  to  capture  the  Philippines  or  not,  if  she  made 
the  attempt,  that  would  be  war  with  us;  and  that 
would  mean  conflict  with  a  nation  possessed  of 
such  resources  in  men,  munitions,  and  money  that 
there  could  be  only  one  possible  outcome  to  it. 
In  the  end  the  war  would  go  against  her.  She 
would  have  to  give  up  the  islands,  even  if  for  a 
time  she  had  held  them  by  the  power  of  her  guns. 
America  would  fight  with  an  energy  that  nothing 
could  withstand,  and  for  years  if  necessary,  and  if 
necessary  would  sink  half  her  enormous  wealth 
in  building  fleets  and  equipping  armies,  rather 
than  suffer  a  foot  of  soil  above  which  her  flag 
floated  to  be  torn  from  her  by  force. 

In  such  a  war  both  nations  would  lose  vast 
treasure.  Both  would  pour  out  nobody  can  tell 
how  much  blood.  Hate,  which  generations  of 
time  could  not  overcome,  would  be  kindled  be- 
tween two  great  peoples  that  ought  to  be  friends 
forever.  There  would  be  much  suffering  here, 
but  not  a  hundredth  part  as  much  as  in  Japan. 
She  would  lose  her  commerce.  Her  coasts  would 
be  blockaded.     Her  manufactures  would  be  para- 


200  RISING  JAPAN 

lysed.  She  would  be  plunged  into  bankruptcy. 
Her  people  would  starve.  And  all  for  what?  For 
nothing,  and  worse  than  nothing! 

Does  any  sane  man  believe  that  the  Japanese 
people  today  or  tomorrow  or  in  a  thousand  years 
will  elect  to  plunge  into  such  a  sea  of  horrors  and 
of  ruin  for  the  sake  of  trying  to  seize  a  group  of 
islands  which  they  well  know  they  cannot  get 
any  possession  of  that  will  be  permanent,  and 
which  if  obtained  would  be  to  them  a  perpetual 
expense,  burden,  anxiety,  and  peril? 

Charles  Lamb's  Chinaman,  burning  down  his 
house  to  roast  a  pig,  would  be  a  paragon  of  wisdom 
compared  with  any  Japanese  general  or  admiral 
or  statesman  who  would  advocate  burning  down 
the  edifice  of  his  nation's  present  splendid  strength 
and  prosperity  for  the  sake  of  stealing  from  a 
friendly  sister  nation  something  which  would  be 
at  best  of  only  doubtful  value  if  obtained. J 

1  Some  of  our  hostile  critics  of  Japan,  who  are  so  ready  to  see 
any  possible  "mote"  in  her  eye  while  unable  to  discern  anything 
even  so  large  as  a  "beam"  existing  in  our  own,  are  discovering 
a  source  of  danger  to  this  country  in  the  fact  that  early  in  the 
war  Japan  took  from  Germany  several  groups  of  small  islands  in 
the  Southern  Pacific  Ocean,  and  still  retains  them  in  her  posses- 
sion.    But  what  are  the  facts? 

Why  did  she  take  these  islands?  Because  as  an  ally  of  Great 
Britain  it  was  her  duty  to  enter  the  war,  and  the  particular  task 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES  201 

No,  we  may  all  be  perfectly  sure  that  if  Japan  is 
not  going  to  attempt  such  an  infinitely  stupid  and 
ruinous  enterprise  as  that  of  invading  the  United 
States,  neither  is  she  going  to  undertake  the  only 
slightly  less  stupid  and  in  the  end  not  at  all  less 

assigned  to  her  was  to  drive  Germany  out  of  the  Orient.  This 
task  she  performed  promptly  by  capturing  Kiao-chau,  Ger- 
many's stronghold  in  China,  and  these  island  groups  in  the 
Pacific,  and  by  assisting  Great  Britain  in  clearing  every  German 
warship  and  gun  from  the  waters  of  the  Orient.  This  was  an 
invaluable  service  to  the  Allies,  because  it  enabled  Great  Britain 
at  once  to  withdraw  her  navy  and  her  merchant  marine  from  the 
Orient  and  from  the  entire  Pacific  and  use  them  in  her  home 
waters  where  they  were  so  much  needed. 

What  is  Japan  doing  with  these  islands?  Holding  them,  as  it 
is  proper  that  she  should,  until  the  end  of  the  war,  when  of  course 
their  final  disposition  will  be  arranged  by  the  conference  of 
nations  that  will  be  called  upon  to  settle  so  many  other  questions 
raised  by  the  war. 

But  may  they  not  be  assigned  to  Japan  ?  And  if  they  are, 
will  they  not  be  a  menace  to  the  United  States  ? 

This  is  a  strange  question.  Is  it  possible  that  the  United 
States,  which  is  certain  to  have  a  leading  voice  in  all  matters  of  the 
kind,  will  consent  to  any  arrangement  that  our  Government 
regards  as  a  menace  to  our  safety? 

Furthermore,  how  is  it  possible  for  the  islands  to  be  a  menace 
to  us,  whoever  may  possess  them?  Nobody  dreamed  that  they 
were  a  menace  to  us  when  Germany  held  them ;  will  they  be  any 
more  so  if  they  are  assigned  to  Japan? 

What  kind  of  islands  are  they?  All  except  the  German  section 
of  New  Guinea  are  very  small;  most  are  volcanic  or  else  scarcely 
more  than  bare  reefs  of  coral;  many  are  uninhabited;  some  are 
inhabited  by  cannibals;  the  total  population  of  all  the  groups  is 
only  a  few  hundred  thousand,  and  the  agricultural  and  commer- 
cial importance  of  all  is  well  nigh  negligible.     Their  chief  value 


202  RISING  JAPAN 

ruinous  job  of  wresting  from  the  United  States 
the  Philippine  Islands.  The  nation  that  has 
accomplished  the  wonderful  things  which  with 
amazement  the  world  has  seen  Japan  accomplish 
in  the  past  fifty  years,  is  not  a  nation  of  fools, 

is  as  coaling  stations  for  ships  which  may  have  occasion  to  sail 
in  the  little  frequented  regions  where  they  lie. 

Where  are  they  located?  Near  us?  On  the  contrary,  they 
are  in  that  part  of  the  Pacific  which  is  farthest  from  us.  They 
are  Asiatic,  not  American.  They  are  much  nearer  to  Japan  than 
to  us,  and  of  course,  therefore,  if  location  has  anything  to  do  with 
giving  claim,  Japan  has  a  much  better  claim  upon  them  than  we. 
Indeed,  since  they  are  in  the  Orient  and  we  in  the  Occident  why 
should  we  regard  ourselves  as  having  any  claim  upon  them  at  all? 

The  fact  is  there  is  no  more  ground  for  our  regarding  the 
possession  of  these  or  any  other  Asiatic  islands  by  Japan  as  a 
danger  to  us,  or  a  violation  of  our  rights,  than  there  is  for  her 
regarding  our  possession  of  the  Aleutian  or  any  other  American 
islands  as  a  danger  to  her,  or  a  violation  of  her  rights. 

We  are  told  that  their  possession  by  Japan  would  be  a  menace 
to  the  Philippines.  But  most  of  the  islands  are  not  so  near  the 
Philippines  as  is  Japan,  and  therefore  could  not  be  a  menace 
unless  Japan  is.  Nor  are  they  anything  like  so  near  as  is  China, 
or  French  Indo-China,  or  Hong-Kong,  the  British  Gibraltar  of 
the  East.     Are  these  a  menace  to  the  Philippines? 

If  there  is  in  us  as  a  nation  any  fairness  or  justice  at  all  we 
must  recognize  that  the  Pacific  Ocean  belongs  as  much  to  Japan 
as  it  does  to  us,  and  that  she  has  as  much  right  to  obtain  posses- 
sion in  it  as  we  have.  And  certainly  if  we  may  cross  the  Pacific 
to  Japan's  side  and  seize  and  hold  such  large  and  valuable  islands 
as  the  Philippines,  we  can  have  no  reason  for  complaint  if  the 
Conference  of  nations  which  will  sit  at  the  close  of  the  present 
war  shall  deem  it  just  to  assign  to  Japan  the  groups  of  almost 
worthless  barbarian  islands  on  her  own  side  of  the  Pacific,  which 
she  has  taken  from  Germany. 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES  203 

and  is  not  going  to  become  such.  It  is  we  who  are 
fools  when  we  dream  that  her  leaders,  the  peers 
of  our  own  sanest  statesmen,  are  plotting  and 
planning  such  infinitely  idiotic  things. 

This,  then,  is  one  side  of  the  Philippine  matter. 
Japan  is  not  going  to  take  our  islands  from  us,  or 
make  any  attempt  to  do  so.  If  any  among  us  has 
dreamed  such  nightmare  dreams  we  may  dismiss 
them  and  be  at  rest. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  the  matter  that  is 
not  a  phantasy.  This  side  must  be  faced  and 
we  want  to  know  how  to  face  it  wisely.  The 
Philippines  are  in  our  possession  and  will  remain 
so  until  we  ourselves  dispose  of  them.  What  are 
we  going  to  do  with  them? 

Would  it  be  a  loss  to  us  as  a  nation  if  they  should 
pass  out  of  our  possession?      If  so,  in  what  respect? 

Leading  men  among  us  of  all  parties  do  not 
hesitate  today  to  confess  that  from  the  beginning 
these  islands  have  been  to  us  financially  an  expense, 
politically  a  burden,  and  militarily  a  peril.  When, 
excited  by  the  militaristic  fever  and  the  expan- 
sionist ambition  that  swept  over  the  nation  in 
connection  with  the  Spanish  War,  we  seized,  those 
remote  possessions,  and  imposed  upon  them  our 
rule,  contrary  to  the  will  of  their  people,  we  thought 


204  RISING  JAPAN 

we  were  doing  something  for  our  advantage. 
Eighteen  years  have  passed,  and  now  we  see  how 
mistaken  we  were. 

By  our  action  we  stultified  ourselves  as  a  liberty- 
loving  people,  trampling  under  foot  before  the 
eyes  of  all  nations  the  principle  for  which  we  had 
always  stood,  the  principle  on  which  our  nation 
was  established,  that  just  government  can  be 
founded  only  on  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Further  than  that,  by  our  action  we  struck  the 
severest  blow  possible  to  our  long-cherished  Mon- 
roe Doctrine;  for  if  we  claimed  the  right  to  reach 
across  half  the  diameter  of  the  earth  and  seize 
lands  in  Asia,  by  what  principle  of  justice  could 
we  longer  forbid  the  nations  of  Europe,  or  of  Asia 
for  that  matter,  from  obtaining  possessions  in 
America? 

Still  further,  by  seizing  those  far  distant  islands 
we  greatly  weakened  ourselves  as  a  military  and 
naval  power  in  the  world.  Competent  military 
and  naval  authorities  tell  us  that  in  order  to  defend 
our  country  plus  the  Philippines  we  require  fully 
twice  as  large  a  navy  and  twice  as  large  an  army 
as  to  defend  our  country  alone.  Thus  our  stolen 
islands  are  a  peril  as  well  as  a  burden. 

We  try  to  console  ourselves  and  we  apologize 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES  205 

to  others,  for  our  blunder  and  our  wrong,  by  the 
plea  that  we  are  benefiting  the  Filipino  people. 
But  are  we?  I  do  not  wish  to  answer  that  we  are 
not,  but  I  do  wish  to  ask  very  seriously,  Are  we 
sure  that  we  are?  If  we  are  benefiting  them  in 
some  ways,  are  we  not  more  than  offsetting  this 
by  the  injuries  we  are  doing  them  in  others?  Who 
should  be  the  judge?  Should  not  the  Filipino 
people  themselves?  What  do  they  say?  Almost 
to  a  man  they  declare  that  their  freedom,  their 
independence,  the  right  to  shape  their  own  career 
for  themselves,  are  to  them  more  precious  than 
all  the  boons  that  we  have  conferred,  or  that  we 
possibly  can  confer.  And  if  we  were  in  their  place 
would  we  not  say  the  same? 

The  thing  then  for  us  to  do,  if  we  desire  to  show 
ourselves  an  honourable  and  just  nation,  surely  is 
faithfully  to  carry  out  our  present  plan  of  putting 
into  their  hands  more  and  more  power  and  re- 
sponsibility year  by  year,  and  soon,  very  soon, 
without  any  unnecessary  delay,  granting  them  the 
boon  which  above  all  others  they  crave,  their  own 
full  freedom. 

The  questions  are  asked:  Will  this  be  safe? 
Are  the  Filipino  people  competent  to  rule  them- 
selves? 


206  RISING  JAPAN 

I  answer,  Yes,  more  competent  than  any  foreign 
nation  in  the  world  is  to  rule  them.  New  York 
City  makes  many  blunders,  and  under  the  in- 
fluence of  its  Tammany  and  other  bosses  does 
many  corrupt  and  evil  things.  But  it  rules  itself 
better  than  it  could  possibly  be  governed  by 
Philadelphia,  or  San  Francisco,  or  Montreal,  or 
Paris,  or  any  foreign  city.  For  centuries  England 
has  declared  that  Ireland  was  unfit  to  govern 
herself.  Now  the  whole  world  sees  that  compelling 
her  to  submit  to  alien  rule,  even  the  supposedly 
very  wise  rule  of  England,  has  been  a  terrible 
mistake.  The  worst  blunders  and  scandals  con- 
nected with  the  government  of  the  Philippines 
since  they  came  into  our  possession  have  been  the 
work  of  the  Americans,  not  of  the  Filipino  members 
of  the  Government  who  knew  the  needs  of  their 
people  as  we  could  not,  and  who  were  interested 
to  guard  those  needs.  Illustrations  of  our  Ameri- 
can blunders,  not  to  call  them  by  any  worse  name, 
are  seen  in  the  luxurious  American  summer 
capital  established  in  the  hills,  and  the  famous 
(or  infamous)  Benguet  Road. 

I  see  not  how  any  one  can  deny  the  capacity  of 
the  Filipino  people  for  self-rule  who  has  watched 
their  history  from  the  time  when  Emilio  Aguinaldo 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES  207 

established  his  Republic,  patterned  after  our  own, 
down  to  the  present;  or  who  is  acquainted  with 
the  Filipino  leaders  in  the  different  departments 
of  public  life;  or  who  has  sat,  as  I  have  done, 
in  the  hall  of  the  Philippine  Legislature,  and 
seen  the  quiet  dignity,  self-poise,  intelligence, 
and  efficiency  with  which  these  representatives  of 
the  people  carry  on  their  legislative  work. 

The  question  is  asked :  Will  not  the  islands  be 
seized  by  some  other  power,  if  we  grant  them 
independence? 

Seized  by  what  power?  The  one  that  our 
alarmists  talk  about  is  Japan.  But  we  have 
already  seen  how  groundless  is  that  fear.  From 
what  other  would  there  be  danger?  Germany? 
Neither  Japan,  nor  Great  Britain,  nor  the  United 
States  would  permit  Germany  to  seize  them,  even 
if  she  wanted  to. 

The  simple,  natural,  reasonable,  and,  beyond 
question,  effective  course  open  for  us  to  pursue  in 
granting  independence  to  the  Philippines,  is  that 
of  negotiating  with  several  of  the  nations  most 
interested  (say  Japan,  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
shall  I  not  say  Germany?)  a  treaty  of  neutrality 
for  the  islands.  That  will  place  their  future 
beyond  the  possibility  of  danger  from  any  outside 


208  RISING  JAPAN 

nation.  Does  any  one  say  that  treaties  are  only 
"scraps  of  paper"  and  of  no  value  in  these  days? 
Let  him  not  be  deceived.  After  Europe's  fearful 
experience  of  what  breaking  a  treaty  costs,  we 
may  be  sure  that  nations  in  the  future  are  going 
to  hesitate  longer  before  daring  to  violate  an 
international  agreement  than  they  have  ever  done 
in  the  past. 

There  never  will  be  war  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States,  unless  we  provoke  and  start  it. 
Japan  is  too  friendly  to  us  ever  to  want  war. 
But  if  she  were  not,  she  is  too  wise  and  far-sighted 
to  plunge  into  a  conflict  from  which  all  of  her 
leaders  clearly  understand  that  she  could  never 
reap  anything  but  the  most  terrible  evil  and 
disaster. 

Even  if  a  war  should  arise,  started  by  us,  Japan 
would  never  think  of  putting  herself  to  the  fatal 
disadvantage  of  fighting  it  on  this  side  of  the 
Pacific,  at  the  distance  of  six  thousand  miles  from 
her  base  of  supplies  and  close  to  ours;  nor  would 
she  fight  it  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  for  the 
reasons  already  given.  What  she  would  do  would 
be  to  compel  us,  if  we  wanted  war,  to  attack  her, 
and  carry  on  the  struggle  at  the  breadth  of  a  great 
ocean  from  our  base  of  supplies,  under  the  guns  of 


MENACE  OF  JAPAN  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES  209 

her  own  fortifications — we  the  aggressor,  we  the 
invader  of  her  soil  and  she  its  defender.  Under 
these  conditions  who  would  win?  Of  course  she 
would  win,  as  she  ought. 

These  are  the  only  conditions  on  which  there 
will  ever  be  war  between  the  two  countries.  Is 
there  an  American  living  who  is  base  enough  and 
insane  enough  to  dream  of  our  ever  attempting  or 
desiring  to  invade  Japan? 
14 


CHAPTER  XV 

CONCLUSION  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER 

I  have  now  considered  all  the  aspects  which 
seem  to  me  most  important  of  the  unfortunate 
trouble  existing  between  the  United  States  and 
Japan — a  trouble  that  never  ought  to  have  arisen, 
that  never  need  to  have  arisen ;  a  trouble  which  in 
some  of  its  aspects  at  least  has  been  artificially  and 
wickedly  created ;  a  trouble  which  every  American 
who  cares  for  the  welfare  of  his  country  or  for  the 
peace  of  the  world  should  do  all  in  his  power  to 
heal. 

I  have  given  what  seem  to  me  solid  and  ample 
reasons  for  believing  that  Japan  does  not  entertain, 
and  never  has  entertained  any  intention  or  desire 
to  invade  either  the  continental  United  States  or 
the  Philippine  Islands ;  and  therefore  that  what  is 
commonly  thought  of  as  the  "  Japanese  Peril"  is 
simply  the  wildest  of  dreams. 

There  is,  however,  a  danger  that  is  real. 

210 


CONCLUSION  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER  2 


11 


That  danger  is  connected  with  the  question  of 
the  continuance  or  non-continuance  of  the  causes 
of  irritation  and  distrust  that  have  sprung  up 
between  the  Japanese  and  this  country.  If  short- 
sighted men  among  us  shall  persist  in  carrying 
on  their  evil  work  of  filling  our  public  mind  with 
misrepresentations,  suspicion,  and  fear  of  Japan, 
and  if  slights  and  injustices  like  those  in  California 
shall  continue,  the  relations  between  Japan  and 
this  country  may  become  strained  to  the  breaking 
point,  with  the  result  of  putting  an  end  to  our 
mutual  friendship,  then  destroying  the  profitable 
and  fast  growing  trade  that  exists  between  the  two 
countries,  then  severing  our  diplomatic  relations, 
and  turning  the  two  great  neighbouring  peoples 
that  should  be  helpers  of  each  other,  into  perman- 
ent foes  and  injurers  of  each  other.  This  is  the 
real  peril  that  threatens. 

If  I  may  sum  up  in  a  few  words  all  that  I  have 
been  trying  to  say  in  this  book,  the  words  shall  be 
these:  Let  us  as  a  nation  keep  our  sanity.  Let 
us  try  to  find  out  the  truth  about  neighbouring 
peoples  and  not  be  deceived  by  prejudiced,  short- 
sighted, or  designing  men.  Let  us  give  no  coun- 
tenance to  jingo  politicians  or  jingo  newspapers, 


' 


212  RISING  JAPAN 

or  German  plotters,  who  would  stir  up  antagonism 
between  us  and  a  nation  as  highly  civilized,  as 
honourable,  and  as  desirous  of  peace  as  ourselves. 

Let  us  prize  the  fine  friendship  that  has  existed 
between  this  country  and  Japan  for  more  than 
sixty  years,  and  count  him  a  public  enemy  who 
does  anything  to  mar  it. 

Let  us  be  as  fair,  courteous,  and  just  in  our 
treatment  of  the  Japanese  in  California,  as  if  they 
were  Frenchmen  or  Russians  or  Germans  or 
Englishmen. 

Since  we  hold  that  Americans  have  a  right  to 
control  the  destinies  of  America,  let  us  be  just 
enough  to  acknowledge  that  Asiatics  have  an 
equal  right  to  control  the  destinies  of  Asia-  ■ 

Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  Japan  has  bound  herself 
by  the  strongest  treaties,  both  with  us  and  with 
other  nations,  fully  to  respect  the  integrity  of 
China  and  the  open-door  policy  in  her  Chinese 
trade  and  commerce,  and  has  given  and  is  con- 
tinuing to  give  numberless  proofs  of  her  desire 
to  co-operate  with  and  not  to  antagonize  us,  in 
that  commerce  and  trade. 

Let  us  frame  for  this  country  an  immigration 
policy  that  shall  be  just  to  all  nations  and  races 
and  also  just  to  ourselves;  that  shall  neither  shut 


CONCLUSION  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER  213 

out  desirable  immigrants  because  of  short-sighted 
national  or  race  prejudice,  nor  admit  greater 
numbers  from  any  land  than  we  can  assimilate 
and  mould  into  intelligent,  liberty-loving,  and 
loyal  Americans. 

Let  us  carry  scrupulous  honour  and  integrity 
into  all  our  dealings  with  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, and  confidently  expect  the  same  high  honour 
and  integrity  in  return. 

And  let  us  know  that  if  an  armed  conflict  ever 
arises  between  the  two  nations,  it  will  not  be  a 
war  of  invasion  of  America,  but,  as  already  said, 
a  war  of  aggression  on  our  part,  which  we  shall  be 
compelled  to  fight  at  Japan's  door,  the  crime  of 
which  will  not  be  Japan's,  but  our  own. 


INDEX 


Abbot,  James  F.,  60 

Advocate  of  Peace,  136 

Agriculture,  14 

Aguinaldo,  Emilio,  206,  207 

Alaska,  148 

Alaska,  Purchase  of,  52 

Aliens,    Federal    Control    of, 

needed,  175-196 
Aliens     Lynched    in    U.     S., 

180 
American  Bar  Association,  177, 

178 
American      Investments      in 

China,  132-136 
Anglo- Japanese  Treaty  of  1905, 

130.  131 
Anti- Japanese     legislation    in 

California,  160-162 
Architecture  in  Japan,  11,  12 
Art  in  Japan,  8-13 
Aryan  Blood  in  Japanese,  3 
Asia,  the  Civilization  of,  1-4 
Asia,    the   mother    continent, 

I,  2 
Atlantic  Monthly,  67 


B 


Banks  in  Japan  with  alleged 
Chinese  cashiers,  23-25 

Barry,  Richard,  118 

Baths  and  Bathing  in  Tokyo 
and  Japan,  15 

Benguet  Road,  206 

Boer  War,  126 

Books,  number  of,  published 
in  Japan,  7 


Boxer  uprising  in  China,  33, 

34 
Bowles,  Gilbert,  136 
Brown,  Alice  M.,  154,  155 
Bryan,  Secretary  W.  J.,  162 
Buddhists      contributing      to 

build  Christian  churches,  48 
Burnett      Immigration     Bill, 

166 


California,  How  much  land  do 
Japanese  own  in  state?  155- 

158 

California  Legislature,  anti- 
Japanese  bills,  160-162 

California,  menace  of  Japan  in, 
142-171 

Carving  in  wood,  coral,  etc., 
11 

Ceramics  in  Japan,  1 1 

China,  90-101 

China,  Agreement  concerning, 
signed  by  Viscount  Ishii 
and  Secretary  Lansing,  141 

China,  integrity  of,  128- 
141 

China,  Japan's  relations  with, 
128-141 

Chinese  Cashiers  of  Japanese 
banks,  23-25 

Chinese  excluded  from  Amer- 
ica, 193 

Chira,  Chugo,  167,  168 

Christian  Work,  The,  192 

Civilization  of  Japan  compared 
with  that  of  Europe  and 
America,  5-49 


215 


216 


INDEX 


Civilization,  Tests  or  marks  of, 

5-49 

Collier's  Weekly,  154,  155 

"Conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  " — Summary  of  book, 
210-213 

Constitution  of  U.  S.,  Four- 
teenth Amendment,  193 

Corregidor  and  Manila  Bay, 
198 

Crime  and  Criminality,  17 

Crow,  Carl,  59 


D 


Daniels,  Secretary  of  Navy  of 

the  U.  S.,  113,  114 
De  Forest,  John  H.,  60,  81,  82 
Dickinson,  G.  Lowes,  12,  13 
Divorces  in  Japan,  20 
Dooley,  Mr.,  75,  76 


E 


East  and  West  News,  135,  136, 
167,  168 

Education  in  Japan,  6 
Education,  Imperial  Decree  on, 

30,31 
Eliot,  Charles  W.,  6,  41,  90, 

91 

Emden,  German  raider,  71 
Emerson,  Study  of,  in  Japan, 

32 
Europe,  her  arrogance  toward 

Asia,  1-3 
Evening    Post     (New    York), 

61 
Expansion  of  United  States  to 

and  upon   the   Pacific,    51- 

54 


Federal     Control     of     Aliens 

needed,  175-196 
Federal  Council  of  Churches, 

61,  62,  177,  178 
Feudal  Age  in  Japan,  38 


Filipinos    and    self-rule,   205- 

207 
Fillmore,  President,  78 
Financial  strength  of    Japan, 

123-127 
Flowers,  Montaville,  59 
Forestry  in  Japan,  15 
Formosa,  198 
Foster,  David  J.,  61 
France,  135 
French  Indo-China,  202 


' '  Gentleman 's  Agreement ' ' 
regarding  Japanese  immi- 
gration, 146,  147,  165,  167 

German  Islands  in  South  Sea 
captured  by  Japan,  200-202 

Germany,  70,  71,  90,  91,  95, 
101,  115,  116,  117,  121,  131, 
201,  207 

Germany  driven  from  Orient 
and  Pacific,  70,  71 

Great  Britain,  115-119,  122, 
135,  201,  207 

Great  Britain,  Alliance  with 
Japan,  98,  99 

Griffis,  William  E.,  60 

Gulick,  Sidney  L.,  60,  138 

Gulick,  Sidney  L.,  his  plan  for 
control  of  immigration  and 
naturalization  of  aliens,  189- 

195 
Guthrie,  George  W.,  60,  85 


H 


Hale,  Edward  E.,  30 
Harris,  Townsend,  83 
Harrison,  President,  180 
Hartford  Courant,  81 
Hawaiian  Islands,  51,  54,  143- 

145.  151 
Hay,    John,    and   the    "Open 

Door"  in  China,  128-129 
Hayashi,  Count,  39 
Hearn,  Lafcadio,  32 
Henshaw,  Judge  F.  W., '88-90 


INDEX 


217 


Herald  (New  York),  64 
Hobson,  R.  P.,  58,  59,  81,  82 
Holt,  Hamilton,  60 
Honesty  of  Japanese,  20-30 
Hong-Kong,  202 
Hospitals  in  Japan,  16 


Idealism  of  the  Japanese,  9, 
10 

Illegitimate  births  in  Japan, 
19,20 

Illiteracy  of  Japanese  in  Cali- 
fornia, 149,  150 

Immigration,  Japanese,  165- 
170 

Immigration  Law,  Need  of  a 
better,  172-196,  212,  213 

Immigration,  Need  of  national 
control  of ,  172-196 

Immigration  problem  not  ra- 
cial but  economic,  185-188 

Independent,  The,  150 

Inlaying  in  gold  and  silver, 
11 

Integrity  of  China,  212 

Intelligence  of  Japanese  people, 
6 

Invasion  of  America  by  Japan, 
how  idea  arose,  50-76 

Invasion  of  America  by  Japan, 
Is  There  Danger  of?  80- 
127 

Irwin,  Commodore,  65 

Ishii,  Viscount,  V.,  95-97, 
140,  141 

Ishii,  Viscount  and  Secretary 
Lansing,  Agreement  be- 
tween regarding  China,  141 

Isobe  cake  vendor,  28,  29 

Italy,  Treaty  with,  176,  179 


Japan  Advertiser,  92 

Japan,  her  ideal  of  industrial 

and  commerical  leadership, 

80-83 


Japan  Mail,  92,  93 

Japan  Society  Bulletin,  68 

Japan's  long  friendship  with 
the  U.  S.,  76-79 

Japan's  service  in  the  Great 
War,  70,  71 

Japan,  the  Menace  of  in  China, 
128-141 

Japanese;  Are  they  warlike? 
80-83 

Japanese  Civilization  com- 
pared with  that  of  Occident, 

5-49 
Japanese  civilization  old,  3,  4 
Japanese,      discrimination 

against,  165-170 
Japanese    in    California:    Are 

they  unsanitary?  151,  152 
Japanese    in    California:    Are 

they  illiterate?  149,  150 
Japanese    in    California:     Do 

they  crowd  out  whites?  155- 

J59 

Japanese  in  California:  Do 
they  lower  wages?  151 

Japanese  Immigration,  165- 
170 

Japanese  Invasion  of  America : 
How  the  idea  arose,  50- 
76 

Japanese,  Number  of,  in  Cali- 
fornia, 147,  148 

Japanese,  Number  of  in  West- 
ern Hemisphere,  148 

"Japanese  Peril,"  210 

Japanese  Special  Commission 
to  U.  S.,  71,  95,  97 

Jordan,  David  Starr,  41,  60, 

90'91  K 

Kaneko,  Viscount,  135,  136 
Kasai,  Jiuji  G.,  109-112,   120 
Kawakami,   K.   K.,  67,    105- 

109,  150,  154,  162 
Kellogg,  Frank  B.,  178 
Kennan,  George,  60,  67 
Kiao-Chau,     China,     36,     70, 

201 


218 


INDEX 


Knox,  Secretary,  142 
Korea,  101,  164,  198 
Kuroda,  Takumi,  118 


Labor,  Federation  of,  in  Cali- 
fornia, 173,  174 

Labor  Representatives  from 
Japan  visit  America,  173 

Lamb,  Charles,  200 

Landscape  gardening  in  Japan, 
11 

Lansing,  Robert.  Agreement 
with  Japan  regarding  China, 
141 

Law,  public  obedience  to,  in 
Japan,  5,  6 

Lawrence,  David,  139 

Lea,    "General"    Homer,    58, 

59 

Literary  Digest ,  The,  150 
Louisiana  Purchase,  52 

M 

Mabie,  Hamilton  W.,  60,   90, 

92 
MacCauley,  Clay,  quoted,  185- 

188 
MacCauley,    Clay,   this   book 

dedicated  to 
Mackenzie,  John  D.,  150 
McCormick,  Frederick,  59 
McKinley,      President,      180, 

181 
"  Mafia  lynchings, "  176,  180 
Magdalena  Bay,  63 
Magnanimity  of  Japanese,  41- 

43 

Makarov,    Russian    Admiral, 

36        . 
Manchuria,     101,     142,     164, 

198 
Medical  Science  in  Japan,  15, 

16 
Methodist  Doctor  of  Divinity 

quoted,  26,  27 
Mexico,  148 


Mexico,  Japanese  in,  67,  69 

Mexico,  ^territory  *  obtained 
from,  by  U.  S.,  52 

Millis,  H.  A.,  60,  147,  151 

Mills,  Benjamin  Fay,  163, 
164 

Missionaries,  American  in  Ja- 
pan, resolutions  of,  86,  87 

Mongolian  blood  in  all  Euro- 
peans, 3 

Monroe  Doctrine,  52,  53,  139, 
140,  204 

Monroe  Doctrine  of  the  Orient, 
138,  139,  140 

Morals,  Japanese  Imperial 
Decree  on,  30,  31 


N 


Napoleon,  122 

Naturalization  of  Japanese  and 
other  aliens,  188 

Navigation,  13,  14 

Navy  of  Japan  described,  105- 
114 

Navy  of  United  States  de- 
scribed, 105-114 

Neutralizing  the  Philippines, 
207,  208 

New  Guinea,  201 

New  York  Times,  141,  168 

Newspapers  in  Japan,  6,  7 

Nitobe,  Inazo,  92 

North  American  Review,  105 


Okuma,  Count,  94,  135,  168 
"Open  Door"  in  China,  128- 

141,  212 
Outlook,  The,  70,  93,  94,  131, 

150 


Pacific,  claimed  as  American 

Ocean,  56 
Pacific,  demand  for  large  navy 

on,  55 


INDEX 


219 


Painting  in  Japan,  9,  10 
Panama  Exposition,  42 
Peace,  love  of,  in  Japan,  36- 

41 

Pekin,  military  expedition  to, 

to  rescue  Legations,  33-34 
Perry,  Commodore,  40,  78,  83 
Philippine  Legislature,  207 
Philippines,    Conquest   of    by 

U.  S.,  126,  127 
Philippines,    the    Menace    of 

Japan  in,  197-209 
Philippines,  Neutralization  of, 

207,  208 
Political    freedom    in    Japan, 

7 
Pottery  in  Japan,  1 1 
Prisoners  of  War,  treatment  of, 

by  Japan,  33~36 
Prostitution,  18,  19 
Public    order    in    Japan,     5, 

6 

R 

Railroads  in  Japan,  15 

Red  Cross,  174 

Red  Cross  in  Japan,  46 

Representative  government  in 
Japan,  7 

Review  of  Reviews,  The,  150 

Roosevelt,  Ex- President,  78,88, 
181,  188 

Root,  Elihu,  quoted,  Fore- 
word, vii 

Root-Tokahira  Agreement,  131 

Russell,  Lindsay,  60 

Russell,  Lindsay,  Foreword  of 
this  book,  v-viii 

Russia,  71,  99,  102,  135 

Russo-Japanese   war,    34,    35, 

37 

San  Diego  American  Defense 

League,  191,  192 
San  Francisco  Earthquake  and 

fire,  42 
Sanitation,  15 
Sawayanagi,  Dr.,  135 


Scherer,  J.  A.  B.,  60,  192 
Science  in  Japan,  8 
Scudder,  Doremus  E.,  60 
Sculpture  in  Japan,  10 
Self-rule     and     the     Filipino 

people,  205-207 
Sex   morality   in   Japan,    18- 

20 
Shibusawa,   Baron,   133,   134, 

165 
Shibusawa,   Baron,  this  book 

dedicated  to 
Shima,    George,   the   "Potato 

King,"  158 
South  Pacific  Islands  captured 

by  Japan,  200-202 
Steiner,  Jesse  F.,  60 
Summary  of  this  book,  210- 

213 
Syndicate    article    slandering 

Japanese    Special    Mission, 

71-74 


Taft,  Ex-President,  87,  180, 
182 

Tammany  (New  York),  206 

Telegraphs,  telephones,  and 
mails  in  Japan,  15 

Temperance  in  Japan,  17 

Terauchi,  Count,  134,  135 

Tokutomi,  Mr.,  93 

Toleration,  religious,  in  Japan, 
46-48 

Treaties  as  "scraps  of  paper, ' ' 
208 

Trustworthiness  of  the  Japan- 
ese Common  People,  26-31 

Turtle  Bay,  63-67 


U 


United  States,  expansion  to 
and  upon  the  Pacific,   51- 

54 

United  States,  her  financial 
strength  and  resources,  125- 
127 


220 


INDEX 


Unity  (Chicago) ,  1 05 
Usher,  Roland  G.,  121 
Uyeno,  Captain,  93 

W 

Wages:   Do  Japanese  depress 

in  California?  151 
War,  Manner  of  carrying  on, 

33-36 
Wars,    Japan's   long   freedom 

from,  36-41 
Wilson,  President,  95 
Wilson,    President,    unable   to 

protect  aliens,  175,  176 


Woman  in  Japan,  43-45 
Woman's  University  in  Japan, 

44 

Women,    Employments    open 

to  in  Japan,  44,  45 
Wright,  Luke,  85 


Yamazaki,  Consul-General,  147 
Yokoi  Shonan,  Japanese  ethi- 
cal teacher,  40 
Yokohama    residents,    resolu- 
tions of,  85,  86 


Jh  Selection  from  the 
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